VOYAGE tothe ARCTIC 

in the 

WHALER AURORA 




'--■■'V: '■" -. - ■'■■-■■■ '■''■■ ■-- ■'■ ■■ ;-.■?■-. - 



David Moore Lindsau 




Copyright!^ .. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC IN 
THE WHALER AURORA 




The " Aurora " in the Nips off Cape York 

From a photo taken at the time 

Frontispiece 



A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 
IN THE WHALER AURORA 

BY 

DAVID MOORE LINDSAY, F. R. G. S. 



" Our infant winter sinks, divested of its grandeur, 
should our eye astonish' d shoot into the frigid zone." 




BOSTON 

DANA ESTES & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 






Copyright, 1911 
By Dana Estes & Company 

All rights reserved 



r 

Electrotyped and Printed by 
THE COLONIAL PRESS 
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 



©CI.A295060 



DEDICATED 
TO 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introduction 11 

II. Voyage to Newfoundland 20 

III. Newfoundland 32 

IV. Newfoundland Sealing 45 

V. The Labrador Sealing 59 

VI. Something about the Greely Relief Expedition . 74 

VII. The Bottlenose Fishing 81 

VIII. The Chieftain Disaster 92 

IX. A Greenland Settlement 101 

X. Polar Bear Shooting 109 

XI. Melville Bay 124 

XII. Cape York to Carey Islands 140 

XIII. Carey Islands to Lancaster Sound .... 148 

XIV. Our First Whale 157 

XV. Floe Edge Fishing 171 

XVI. Whaling in Lancaster Sound ... . . . 184 

XVII. Lancaster Sound to Dundee 201 

Appendix 217 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The Aurora in the Nips off Cape York . . Frontispiece 

Greenland Whaler in Dock at Dundee .... 14 

Captain Jas. Fairweather 15 

Wm. Adam, Mate of the Aurora 15 

The Active . 18 

Whaler Leaving Dundee 20 

Leaving the Tat 22 

The Old Man of Hoy — Orkney 22 

Breaking through Soft Ice 29 

The Resolute's Wooden Funnel 31 

The Narrows, St. John's 34 

St. John's Harbor in Spring 36 

The Aurora 39 

The Arctic 39 

Home Sweet Home 40 

Hood Seals 40 

Freeing the Ship 46 

The Neptune 46 

Bound for the Sealing 48 

Establishing a Pan 50 

A Pan of Sculps . 50 

Harp Seals 52 

Sculping 52 

Hauling Sculps over the Ice 56 

A Baby Seal 57 

Removing Fat from Sculp 57 

The Aurora in St. John's Harbor 60 

vii 



viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The Death of a Berg 62 

Berg on the Coast of Newfoundland 64 

Peculiar Berg on Labrador Coast 68 

Berg off Belle Isle 70 

Fish Drying Places at St. John's 72 

Removing Fat from the Sculps 73 

An Arctic Monarch 78 

Ice Pans 86 

Greely Relief Ships Thetis and Bear 86 

Off the Coast of Labrador 88 

Captain Guy of the Arctic 91 

Greenland Village Scene 102 

Cape York Esquimaux 106 

Esquimaux Kyaks 109 

Disco 109 

George Matheson 110 

Little Auk 113 

Polar Bear 116 

Following Leads 121 

Polynia 122 

Hooked on to the Shore Floe 128 

A Whaler amongst Ice 134 

Pounding away at the Floe 138 

Aurora at Cape York 142 

A Dreary Arctic Scene 146 

Beset 150 

Kyaks 150 

A Good Bag of Bears 151 

Bone on Deck and Blubber Coming on Board . . . 158 

Bone Coming on Board 160 

Flensing. Showing the Smaller Boats . . . .161 

Main Deck of a Whaler while Flensing .... 165 

Page of a Whaler's Log 178 

A Fast Fish 178 

Heave away Capstan 189 

West Side Woman's Boat 200 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix 

PAGE 

A Beautiful Bekg 200 

Little Auk 202 

A Baffin Land Harbor ....'. ... 202 

Enu in the Center . . 208 

A Baefin Land Belle 208 

West Side Mother and Child 209 

West Side Native Residence 211 

Native House on West Side 211 

Baffin Land Scene 214 



A Voyage to the Arctic in 
the Whaler Aurora 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

The following is little more than a diary of a 
voyage made by me on the whaler Aurora of Dun- 
dee in 1884. I cannot imagine its being read by 
many, as the subject can only interest a few who 
have themselves gone down to the sea in ships. 

The Arctic whaling industry is I fear becoming 
a thing of the past, and this prompts me to have 
the record of our successful voyage printed. 

Some mention has been made of the Greely Re- 
lief Expedition, as the relief ships were with the 
whalers during the passage to Cape York from 
Newfoundland. 

We were not brought in contact with the Chief- 
tain at all during the cruise, but I have told the 
story of her disaster, as it was the most unfor- 
tunate occurrence of the year amongst the Arctic 
whalers, and for the data I am very much indebted 
to the Dundee Advertiser and to Mr. Allen Bell 
and Mr. Harvey of that paper for the trouble they 
have taken about it. I am also indebted to Mr. 
Robert Kinnis of Dundee for much interesting 

11 



12 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

whaling information in the Appendix. As that 
gentleman possesses the records of all catches 
taken by British ships for more than a hundred 
years, he is in a position to supply very valuable 
data on the subject. 

Mr. Walter Kinnis kindly supplied me with 
many photographs, as did Dr. Crawford, formerly 
of the Arctic, and Captain Murray of Dundee. 

It has given me great pleasure recalling the 
scenes described. As I was very young at the 
time of the voyage they produced an indelible 
impression. Often since have I longed for a few 
weeks in Lancaster Sound, and to hear once more 
the inspiring shout " A fall! " 

Being fond of adventure, and having read as 
many works on the subject as most boys of my 
age, it was with great pleasure that I looked for- 
ward to hearing a lecture delivered by Com- 
mander Cheyne, R. N. I was then at school, and 
our tutor thought it would be an education for us 
to hear him. The lecture was to me intensely 
interesting and the illustrations splendid. For 
days after I could not think of anything else. 
During study at night, I used to spend a good deal 
of time looking at a map of the Arctic seas, and 
picturing Melville Bay with its dangers. After 
leaving school, and while at college, I read Walter 
Scott's " Pirate." It told about the Orkneys and 
Shetlands, and its frequent allusions to the wha- 
ling industry set me thinking. I found myself 
often repeating:— 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 13 

" The ship, well laden as barque need be, 
Lies deep in the furrow of the Iceland sea. 
The breeze for Zetland blows fair and soft 
And gaily the garland is fluttering aloft. 
Seven good fishes have spouted their last, 
And their jawbones are hanging from yard and mast; 
Two are for Lerwick, and two for Kirkwall, 
And three for Burgh- Westra, the choicest of all." 

As there was no immediate chance of going to 
Greenland, why not see Shetland? So when the 
summer holidays came, I made my way to Edin- 
burgh with two friends who had also read the 
" Pirate." 

We found that steamers sailed from Leith and 
that the best of the fleet, the St. Magnus, would 
leave the next morning at six, so we took passage 
in her and visited Orkney and Shetland, thor- 
oughly enjoying being off the beaten track. 

One day we sat on the Nab Head at Lerwick 
and looked over a calm sea. In the distance a 
barque could be descried. Half an hour later we 
noticed her much closer, although no sails hung 
from her yards. Then we discovered that while 
barque rigged she could also steam, and when she 
anchored we found that she was a whaler, the 
Eclipse of the Peter Head,— Captain Gray. We 
went on board and were shown over the ship. 
Polar bear skins were stretched in frames drying, 
and we learned that she had 3,500 seals on board 
and 17 bottle-nosed whales, and, what was of far 
more consequence to me, that she carried a sur- 
geon. 

Years passed; I was a student at the University 



14 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

of Edinburgh and had every opportunity of learn- 
ing about ships sailing from Scottish ports. 

One day in November, 1883, I went to Dundee 
and, leaving the Tay Bridge station, made my way 
along the docks to a basin in which were several 
whalers. They were discharging cargo, and it was 
unnecessary to see them to know of their presence. 
Two of the ships, though small, were very beauti- 
ful to look at. They were the Jan Mayen and the 
Nova Zembla. Others, the Narwhal, Polynia, Es- 
quimaux, Active, etc., were not so pretty, but they 
all had a fascination— they came from the roman- 
tic Arctic, and I went on board each one. Then 
I visited another dock where three ships lay to- 
gether. They were the Arctic, the Aurora and the 
Thetis. It required no expert to tell that they 
were vessels of superior quality. I went on board 
the one nearest the shore, the Thetis, and inter- 
viewed the mate. He told me that all three ships 
would carry surgeons. The Arctic and Thetis 
were bound for Davis Straits, the Aurora for 
Greenland. 

The office of the company, Wm. Steven & Son, 
was near by, so I left the ship very much excited. 
Here was almost a chance to visit the Arctic 
regions. Going over to the office, I learned that 
the captain of a whaler selected his own surgeon, 
and that Captain James Fairweather of the Au- 
rora had just been there. I obtained his address, 
and calling a cab, was soon at his house. He was 
not in, but I waited. Seated in a room on the floor 
of which polar bear rugs were stretched, I began 




o 



IN THE WHALER AUEORA 15 

to realize that I was taking a rather serious step 
without consulting my parents. Before long the 
Captain entered, and after a little conversation, I 
arranged to sail as the Aurora's surgeon the fol- 
lowing January. So without really meaning to go 
when I left my rooms in the morning, I found 
myself in the railway carriage on the way back 
to Edinburgh, booked for an unusual voyage. 

During the winter I told some friends what I 
intended to do, and one of them at once went to 
Dundee and secured the Arctic, the captain of 
which was an Irishman. Another was also desir- 
ous of going, but said he would wait until I re- 
turned and told him how I liked it. However he 
too went in the end and we met in the north. 

The Aurora was bound for the Newfoundland 
sealing first and afterwards for the Greenland 
whaling; that is to say, she would fish for bottle- 
nosed whales on the east side of Greenland in the 
seas around Jan Mayen and Spitzbergen and 
make a shorter voyage of it than the Davis Straits 
ships. 

To prepare myself for the experience I read 
what I could about Greenland, and was fascinated 
by the prospect of seeing its icy mountains and 
possibly some of its inhabitants; while the very 
word Spitzbergen suggested to me polar bears 
and icebergs. In January, 1884, a letter from the 
Captain told me he would sail about the end of 
the month and requested me to be in Dundee by 
the 29th. 

I bought a lot of unnecessary clothing, such as 



16 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

pilot-cloth suits lined with flannel. When the 
flannel became wet afterwards it wonderfully al- 
tered the fit of the things, so I removed it with 
my knife. I also laid in a supply of literature, 
arms and ammunition, and left the Waverley sta- 
tion at six on the morning of the 29th. Arriving 
at Dundee, I went to a hotel and then to the office, 
where I met the Captain, and went with him to 
the place where the men were signing on. Here I 
heard some one reading rapidly a lot about the 
nature of the voyage and what we would have to 
eat. When I left the building, I was a legal mem- 
ber of the Aurora's crew for the coming cruise, 
and my rating was that of surgeon, with pay as 
follows : 





£. s. 


d. 


Monthly pay- 


2 





Oil money per ton 


2 





Bone per ton 


4 





Seal skins per 1,000 


1 






I had to furnish my own cabin and to pay the 
market price for any trophy of my own shooting 
which I wanted to keep. As our voyage was in 
pursuit of Arctic animals and as I was a member 
of the crew sent for that purpose, of course this 
was quite right. 

It was possible for me to increase the above pay 
by being in fast boats. Xet me explain what I 
mean: when a boat first strikes a fish it is called 
a fast boat; and if the whale is killed, every one 
in the boat receives what is called striking money. 
The harpooner gets ten shillings for putting in 
the gun harpoon, and ten and six pence for the 




Captain Jas. Fairweather 



*~*4 




Wm. Adam, Mate of the " Aurora ; 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 17 

hand, or a guinea for both, while every member 
of the crew receives half a crown in either 
case. 

It was my good fortune during the following 
eight months to increase my wages by two shillings 
and six pence in this way. Having fixed terms 
and other details I went on board the ship which 
was to be my home for some months to come. She 
was a pretty auxiliary barque of 386 tons regis- 
tered. Her engines were about a hundred horse 
power. She had a top-gallant forecastle and a 
raised poop. Running forward from the poop 
was the engine room skylight, which ended at the 
funnel casing, and steps led from the poop to the 
main deck on each side of it. The funnel was 
painted buff, the ship outside was black, and the 
bulwarks inside white and blue. The bridge was 
across the engine room skylight and in front of 
the mizzenmast, an iron railing around the poop, 
offering no protection from the weather, while a 
companion opened aft in front of our two wheels. 
The pretty little cabin was furnished in pitch pine 
and leather. The Captain's room occupied the 
starboard side, while mine was on the port, both 
opening into the cabin. Forward of my room was 
that occupied by the first and second mates, and 
this looked into the passage at the foot of the 
stairs. Forward of the passage was the pantry 
and also the engineer's room. A locker in which 
things were stowed occupied the stern and opened 
into the cabin. Forward of the cabin table was 
a stove in which there was a cheerful fire, and in 



18 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

the square skylight hung a bird's cage and a gar- 
land, also some plants. 

Finding out what I wanted for my room, I went 
into the town, ordered the things and had them 
sent down. 

January 30. Two acquaintances, whose identity 
I may indicate by the initials H. and P., turned 
up this day to see me off. I took them over the 
ship, but they were not very enthusiastic. We 
afterwards went around the docks and saw the 
other whalers getting ready for sea. Quantities 
of marmalade and dozens of hams were being put 
on board the Esquimaux. Two of the whalers had 
already departed, the Narwhal and Polynia, while 
others were not starting for a week to come; but 
as there were uncertainties about the western 
ocean's passage in winter, Captain Fairweather 
had decided not to wait longer than the 31st. 

It snowed a little, which made the docks look 
dreary. I met the Captain's wife on board during 
the afternoon, also his brother, who had command 
of the Thetis. 

The following day Armitage arrived. He 
brought me a big meerschaum pipe, and was 
delighted with the ship, so pleased that he visited 
many others to see if he could not secure a berth 
on one of them. But those carrying surgeons had 
their medical officers engaged. We wandered 
around the docks all the morning and at noon I 
went on board. 

The Aurora left the dock at one P. M. and an- 
chored for a short time in the river to pick up a 




] 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 19 

few belated and more or less incapable members 
of the crew, and to land some stowaways. 

My friends stood on the dockhead with hundreds 
of others to see us off, and as we passed through 
the gate, old shoes, oranges and other things were 
thrown on board. 

I was walking about the poop with my hands 
deep in the pockets of my pilot coat and looking 
at the sea of faces on the dock, when, stumbling 
over a chain, down I came with a crash in the most 
ignominious way. However a stumble and fall 
on board a whaler putting to sea generally passes 
unnoticed; one would attract more attention by 
standing up all the time! Thus the voyage began, 
— my position flat on deck, being in keeping with 
the best traditions of the trade! 



20 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER n 

VOYAGE TO NEWFOUNDLAND 

" A thousand miles from land are we, 
Tossing about on the roaring sea; 
From billow to bounding billow cast 
Like fleecy snow on the stormy blast." 

Steaming down the river we landed quite a lot 
of stowaways at Broughty Ferry about 4.30 P. M., 
just as it was becoming dark. Tea was served at 
five, — my first meal on board the Aurora. 

The Captain and myself sat on the starboard 
side of the table. Wm. Adam, the mate, Alexan- 
der McKechnie, second mate, and Wm. Smith, 
chief engineer, sat on the other side. 

Immediately after tea, I went to my room as we 
were crossing the bar and going out into a gale of 
wind. Everything was tumbling about, and know- 
ing that in a very short time I should lose all 
interest in my surroundings, I began making 
things secure. 

There were two berths. My bed was in the 
upper as it had a porthole, and most of my belong- 
ings were stowed in the lower. 

A lot of tobacco had become loose, so I put the 
little packages of it between my bed and the side 
of the ship. The port was not screwed very tight 
and leaked badly for a week or so. This saturated 




* 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 21 

the tobacco and generated an odor which added 
nothing to my comfort. The motion becoming very 
pronounced, I turned in, and being tired, slept 
well. 

February 1st. Footsteps overhead and the sing- 
ing of shanties on deck awoke me at daybreak, but 
I was intensely ill, so stayed in bed all day. My 
room was illuminated by a small light set in the 
deck overhead and by a partially submerged port, 
so it was not cheerful. Above my head there was 
a book shelf. I tried to read, but could not feel 
interested as it was so very depressing to look for- 
ward to months and months of this sort of thing. 
Matters grew worse as the day went on, the cli- 
max being reached when rounding Duncansby 
Head; but respite came about midnight, when we 
crept into Long Hope and let go our anchor. 

February 2nd. Shouting and crying awoke me 
in the morning, and opening the door of my cabin, 
I saw the Captain teaching two boys that the sea 
was a bad place to run away to. They had been 
under an upturned boat and the seas coming on 
board had almost drowned them out. Each boy 
promised that he would never do it again. They 
were given two tins of mutton and a small sack 
of ship's bread, and put on shore. 

Long Hope is a well sheltered harbor, between 
the islands of Hoy and South Walls. There was a 
pronounced smell of turf smoke about the place 
and the land was half covered with snow. 

Two other whalers were at anchor near by, the 
NarwJml and Polynia. They had left Dundee ten 



22 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

days before us and had been weather bound here 
for that length of time. 

I brought my gun up as there were some 
Richardson's skuas flying about, but I did not get 
a shot at one. The mate, however, shot a herring 
gull with it and this was the first splash of the 
ocean of blood shed by us during the voyage. 

Breakfast was a cheerful meal and the horrors 
of the North Sea were soon forgotten. 

At noon, the tide being favorable and the wind 
having gone down greatly, we all three steamed 
out into the Pentland Firth. The Polynia was 
the first to move; I heard her anchor chain clanking 
on board to a well-sung shanty. We started next, 
and as there were some good voices forward we 
tried to outdo the others. The Narwhal followed, 
never to return, as she was lost during the sum- 
mer. 

Turning Brims Ness sharp, we kept on the 
Orcadian side of the firth; and after passing Turn 
Ness, we laid our course for Cape Wrath. Across 
the water we could barely make out Thurso. The 
land lies rather low about the mouth of the Thurso 
river; but on the Hoy side the scenery was fine 
and we soon sighted the Old Man of Hoy. During 
my trip to Orkney and Shetland a few years be- 
fore, I had spent several days on this island, so 
was interested in seeing it now from the sea on 
this dismal February afternoon. Its sombre cliffs 
are always grand, but the present atmospheric 
condition made the scene impressive. 

The Old Man of Hoy, in the simple language of 




Leaving the Tay 




The Old Man of Hoy — Orkney 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 23 

the guide book, is, " An insular pillar composed 
of flagstones and shales. Across their denuded 
edges there stretches the band of amygdaloidal 
lava which is capped by the red sandstones to the 
height of four hundred fifty feet." I could make 
out the Ward Hill, but clouds lay low on its sum- 
mit. Near there I had visited the celebrated 
Dwarfie Stone made famous by Scott in his " Pi- 
rate. " It is a huge block of rock twenty-two feet 
by seventeen and seven deep. There is a passage 
in it with a bed like a ship's berth hewn out on 
each side, and it had been, of course, the home of 
a Trold. 

I turned my back on this land of Trolds, and 
went down the quarter-hatch to see the second 
mate serving out lime-juice, tea, coffee, tobacco 
and sugar to the men. I heard their names called 
and had a good look at them as they came up. Our 
crew was a fine looking lot and the most respect- 
able body of men one could find on any ship, unlike 
the New Bedford or San Francisco South Sea 
whalers, which carried very mixed crews of every 
color. 

Most of our men had spent the greater part of 
their lives in Greenland waters, and though not 
well informed on current topics and very super- 
stitious, they were self-respecting to a degree and 
absolutely fearless, and they were all of the same 
nationality. 

Of course, life on board a whaler is much 
pleasanter than on any other sort of merchantman, 
because the ships are well found and the crews 



24 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

very large so that, except when actually engaged 
in sealing or whaling, they have an easy enough 
time. 

The captains in the trade were very humane 
men, many of them scientific, and they treated 
their crews well. Amongst the harpooners were 
often found men who had themselves commanded 
ships and whose stars, no doubt, would again be 
in the ascendancy. 

A few unsuccessful years, or the loss of a ship 
or two, would probably cost a man his command, 
and bad luck cannot be avoided. 

Before the second mate had finished serving out 
I retired, as the ship was beginning to feel the 
heavy swell that was coming in, and by six P. M. 
I was absolutely " under the weather," and it was 
blowing hard from the northwest. We passed 
Cape Wrath about midnight. The following day a 
strong gale was blowing with snow and the engines 
were slowed down. 

February 4th. Blowing a gale, reefed mizzen set 
and main topmast staysail, with the engines 
slowed down. During the morning a man was 
hurt. He was carried aft and held on the cabin 
table while I — very ill — and also held, sewed his 
scalp and dressed the wound. 

February 5th. Strong gale. Ship under reefed 
mizzen and main staysail, steaming slow. High 
sea running and sun obscured all day. 

This applies to the state of affairs on the 6th, 7th, 
8th, 9th and 10th, during all of which time I en- 
joyed the horrors of mal de mer. I saw by the log 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 25 

that we had spent our days under fore and afters 
with a heavy sea running, but I made no original 
observations, keeping in my berth all the time, 
wondering during my conscious moments what 
brought me to sea and vowing that I would never 
set foot on a vessel again if spared this time. 

The ship's dog (Jock) was a rather sociable and 
sympathetic collie. He spent a good deal of time 
with me, and I could not help admiring the old 
chap when I knew that he really did not belong to 
any one, but always turned up on the Aurora 
about sailing time and made the voyage with her. 
At St. John's, Jock had lots of friends and visited 
a good deal, but he was always on board on sailing 
day. 

February 11th. A mere shadow of my former 
self, I got up and did not feel ill. My wash basin 
was in one corner of the room. I put my head 
against the corner above it and by sticking one 
foot against the side of the door and another 
against the lower berth, was able to apply a little 
water to my face, but the swing of the ship was 
so great that it swished nearly every drop out of 
the basin. I dressed and went to breakfast, feel- 
ing absolutely well and ravenously hungry. After 
breakfast, tucking my breeches inside my sea 
boots, I went on deck. The door opened aft. As 
I came out, the stern of the vessel sank low as the 
bows rose on the sea, and I saw a black mountain 
of water rolling from us. Getting to the mizzen 
rigging on the port side, I put my arms in the 
shrouds and stood on a spar lashed on deck. It 



26 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

was very dark for the hour and blowing the great- 
est storm that I had ever experienced, the wind 
fairly shrieking through the rigging. 

We were steaming half speed and had a reefed 
mizzen and main staysail set. Looking forward, 
I saw the little ship taking tons of dark water over 
her bows. It came off the forecastle in a cataract, 
and rushing aft between the engine room and bul- 
warks, it surged upon the poop. We only had a 
few feet of free board and were making terrible 
weather of it. The atmosphere was full of water, 
as the tops of the waves were blown off in sheets. 
A great splash came over the quarter about this 
time and fairly engulfed me. Then I learned that 
it was better to wear one's sea boots inside instead 
of outside the trousers. 

This was sufficient for the day, so I retired 
below to change and dry. During the evening, 
the Captain showed me our position on a chart 
which was glued to the cabin table under the cloth. 
We were not yet half way across. 

The 12th, 13th and 14th were all equally awful, 
but I had my sea legs and a good appetite, so was 
thankful. The only pleasure I had was standing 
on the bridge and watching the ship burying her 
bows into the big seas and the water coming in 
tons over the forecastle and filling the main deck. 
She was indeed a wet ship in bad weather. 

February lSth. The Captain said that he had 
never seen a lower barometer. A great gale was 
blowing and the ship was hove to. Bags of oil 
had been put out on the weather side, but the oil 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 27 

did not escape with sufficient freedom so they were 
hauled in and a lot of punctures made with a knife, 
but this did not improve matters much. It ren- 
dered the sea comparatively smooth to leeward 
and there was not so much spray flying, but tons 
of water tumbled over us and we spent a dreadful 
day. I tried the deck for awhile, but it was dan- 
gerous. At night the ship was laboring fearfully 
and continued to do so for days. 

February 20th. Another fearful day. I had 
occasion to visit the topgallant forecastle to see 
the ship-keeper, who had hurt his knee. There 
was a line from the forecastle door to the main 
rigging for safety, as one was almost sure to be 
caught by a sea while going the length of the 
deck. 

Two men came aft for me, and watching our 
chance, we reached the forecastle safe. Coming 
back, I decided to try it alone, so waited until a 
tremendous sea had broken over us, then before 
she had time to take another, I made a dash, but 
a body of water splashed over the starboard side 
and forced me to climb up the inside of the main 
rigging and stay there until some of it swept off 
the deck. Towards night the wind began to mod- 
erate a little. 

February 21st. Pitching and tossing as usual. 
Cloudy, but not much wind; a nasty sea, however, 
and the canvas did not hold her steady. Really 
in a heavy gale the storm holds a ship down to 
some extent. 

The next day, however, the weather had mod- 



28 A VOYAGE TO THE AECTIC 

erated, so I tried stoking and managed quite well. 
I also tried changing a fire, which was not such 
a success, but I kept steam up and it was an in- 
teresting experience. 

An end comes to all things. On the morning 
of the 23rd the ship for the first time was on an 
even keel and some sun was shining through my 
deck light. Hitherto attempts at washing had 
been unsatisfactory, as the motion of the ship in 
a sea was so quick. Now, however, I indulged in 
a complete toilet, and with a feeling of self-respect 
went on deck. The day was cloudless and beau- 
tiful, the sea smooth as glass, and dotted over it 
were white specks of ice. In a very short time the 
pieces of ice became more numerous and larger, 
and when we were at breakfast we heard and felt 
the ship crushing and bumping amongst them. 
By eleven A. M. a breeze came up from the south- 
east and all sail was set, but by noon the ship stuck 
hard and fast in the ice, and presented to me a 
wonderful and beautiful sight. 

Every stitch of canvas was set and drawing, 
and the engine going full speed, but still for a time 
we did not move. Now 5 was my chance to walk 
about on the frozen sea, so I went out with the 
dog and we both enjoyed a race, keeping very 
close, however, for at any moment the Aurora 
might move. "We came on board when the mate 
called, as a crack was appearing ahead of the ship. 
We were now two hundred twenty miles from St. 
John's, and expected to be in ice all the way. 
During the afternoon I went up to the f oretop and 




Valentine 



Breaking through Soft Ice 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 29 

thoroughly enjoyed a half hour gazing at the won- 
derful scene. 

We were very seldom stuck for any length of 
time, a few bumps from the ship being generally 
sufficient to open a crack. 

A great many of the men were on deck most of 
the day, and certainly she was a heavily manned 
ship with her crew of sixty-five. Six of them be- 
longed to the engine room, eight were harpooners, 
who lived in the topgallant forecastle, as did some 
of our tradesmen. Of these we had two carpenters, 
a cooper, blacksmith, and sailmaker. The speck- 
sioneer also lived there. He was the chief of the 
harpooners, a splendid old man called George 
Lyon. Sixteen of our men were from Shetland, 
a quiet, sober, industrious lot. 

Standing on the forecastle, I watched the ship 
crunching through several miles of young ice. She 
never actually stopped once. Her bows would rise 
up on it, then huge slabs would tilt on end as she 
glided on. Sometimes a long crack would open 
and let her slide in to be almost stuck. By degrees 
she would gain way and probably steam into an 
open pool, to strike the opposite side with consid- 
erable force, thereby opening a crack in which she 
would repeat the performance. The engine is the 
secret of ice navigation. With canvas alone we 
would have been fast in the ice much of the time, 
while with heavier engines we could have gone 
through heavier ice. The night was fine, and we 
managed to keep moving on our course. 

February 24th was a glorious day. One would 



30 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

scarcely expect to find such weather in February; 
in this neighborhood. 

In the morning we passed through rather 
smooth ice. Occasionally there were large ponds 
and in many of these I saw seals. Sometimes they 
were plunging about in numbers, but generally a 
few heads only were visible looking at us inquis- 
itively as we passed. There were no bergs in 
sight, but during the afternoon we passed some 
rafted ice which was piled up six or seven feet 
above the floes, and once we were fast for an hour 
in a rather heavy place, when I again tried the 
walking, but there was snow on the ice which was 
slightly frozen on the surface, and this made it 
heavy as one went through the crust. Towards 
evening the sky became cloudy; it was very cold, 
and snow was falling when I turned in for the 
night. 

In the morning Cape Bonavista was in sight. It 
was my first view of this New World. All land 
was beautiful to me after a month at sea and this 
looked so attractive as we neared it that I wanted 
to settle on it for the rest of my life. However, 
we passed on, and during the day steamed through 
the narrows and tied up astern of the Arctic on 
the south side of St. John's harbor at what was 
known as Stevens Wharf. 

The Arctic had sailed ten days after us and had 
made good weather of it as she was a long ship 
of nearly double our tonnage, but of nothing like 
our strength of build. 

The Esquimaux, Polynia, Narwhal and Reso- 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 31 

lute had also arrived. The latter on the way out 
had lost her funnel, so a pyramidal structure had 
been erected of wood lined with tin; this an- 
swered very well for a time. Some of her bul- 
warks had been carried away, especially forward 
of the main rigging on the port side. She was a 
fine ship, strong and well engined, but the North 
Atlantic in winter leaves its mark on the best. 

The Resolute was owned in St. John's and com- 
manded by a St. John's captain; but she came 
out from Dundee, where she had been overhauled. 

So ended my first trip across the Atlantic, and, 
until then, the most uncomfortable experience of 
my life. 



32 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER in 

NEWFOUNDLAND 

" Such are the charms to barren states assyn'd, 
Their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd." 

Our first possession across the sea was New- 
foundland, and I made the voyage to it 400 years 
after John Cabot, the discoverer. The Mathew of 
Bristol first sighted Cape Bonavista, which was 
the first point seen by the Aurora. Cabot was a 
Venetian sailing out of Bristol for a time, and for 
his great discovery, which gave England her vast 
American possessions, King Henry gave John ten 
pounds a year. Cabot is to-day very well thought 
of, but nothing much is known of what became 
of him. The name makes an attractive one for a 
Newfoundland dog. I have known several of them 
bear it, and it is a sort of geographical education 
to have them running around; but there is not 
any place of importance in the world called after 
this great mariner. 

The coast of the country is forbidding, being 
rocky and bleak, except around some of the bays ; 
the most beautiful of those seen by me being Bay 
of Islands on the west coast, which reminds one 
of Norway. Here and in the valley of the Hum- 
ber, which runs into it, there is some very fertile 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 33 



land, and there are some scenes of peace and pros- 
perity. But the general impression I have ob- 
tained after several visits to the country, is that 
life is a struggle for many of the inhabitants com- 
pared with what it is in any other colony which 
we possess. Newfoundlanders are true to the land 
of their birth, but one familiar with North Amer- 
ica at large would never think of advising a col- 
onist to push his fortune in this particular part 
of it, because the opportunities are comparatively 
few and the winters are too long for any working 
man to remain idle. In the interior the soil is as 
a rule shallow; there are thousands and thousands 
of acres of barrens, hundreds of lakes of different 
sizes and numbers of streams. Great areas of the 
country are grown over with small timber, the 
trees being so close together in places that one can 
hardly push through them. Much of the barren 
country is moss-grown and boggy, so that it can- 
not be travelled over by horses or mules; there- 
fore, when one leaves the rivers, it is necessary 
to carry everything on one's back, and, as a result, 
travel in the interior is not much indulged in by 
the inhabitants. To add to the pleasure, mosqui- 
toes and their cousins, the black flies, are in 
swarms. The whole interior is a deer forest of 
the first magnitude, teeming with caribou (Rangi- 
fer tarandus). These animals weigh about 300 
pounds, and they are very gray about the head 
and shoulders. I have seen them standing among 
trees which were grown over with bearded moss, 
when it was difficult to tell the caribou from the 



34 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

trees. Some of the heads are splendid with a 
great deal of palmation and not at all like Green- 
land or polar American caribou in which the pal- 
mation is generally poor and the beam long and 
straggling, probably due to a difference of envi- 
ronment. Migrating to the northern part of the 
island in summer, they return in September and 
October to winter in the south, and the sports- 
man intercepting them on their autumnal trip can 
have his choice of heads. 

Another attraction is the salmon and trout fish- 
ing. The rivers, especially on the west coast, are 
well stocked, white trout being particularly nu- 
merous. 

St. John's harbor is entered through the nar- 
rows. On the left, going in, there is the lighthouse ; 
and on the right, or north side, the signal station. 
On this side is the city, lying at the foot of low 
hills, its principal street, Water Street, being 
parallel with the shore. From it run side streets 
down to the wharves and up the hill to the resi- 
dences and churches. The Dundee ships lay on 
the south side, our yard being nearest the nar- 
rows. From it a path led out to the lighthouse 
point. A hundred yards from the ship one was 
on the hillside and without the pale of everything, 
because only a narrow fringe of buildings sepa- 
rated the south shore from the wilds. Along the 
water edge, between our ship and the lighthouse, 
one passed lots of fish flakes. These were con- 
structed of a framework of vertical and horizon- 
tal poles covered over with spruce boughs upon 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 35 

which the split codfish were laid after being 
salted. The air circulated under and around them 
well and they soon dried. I saw codfish being 
dried on the beach in Shetland, but they were 
only spread on the shingle. There are no trees 
in Shetland from which poles could be made, but 
there is less precipitation there than in New- 
foundland, so the fish dry well upon the shingle. 
It is over 300 years since the Newfoundland 
fisheries began to be worked. They proved the 
country's first attraction and there is nothing 
of the sort in the world like them. For the five 
years 1871 to '75 the export of dried cod was 
1,333,009 quintals of 112 pounds. The Basques 
first appeared on the scene and a port on the west 
coast to-day bears their name, Port aux Basques. 
As early as 1527 an English shipmaster, on enter- 
ing St. John's harbor, found eleven ships from 
Norway, one from Breton and ten from Portugal, 
all fishing. 

In looking over the exports for 1881 one notices 
several interesting items; one is, 4,127 tons of cod- 
liver oil, another item is 300 barrels of cods' heads 
at $1.00 per barrel. I fancy, however, their use 
has not become very general yet when we know 
that only 300 barrels were exported, and that over 
sixty million cod were killed. When I speak of 
the cod fishing, I mean the Labrador as well as 
the Banks fishery. In fact, the former is probably 
the more fished of the two by the Newfound- 
landers. 

The day after our arrival our ship began dis- 



36 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

charging cargo, that is to say, taking off our 
whale-boats and launch, and taking out all sup- 
plies for the whaling voyage. Then they began 
sheathing the deck and bulwarks — even the floor 
of the cabin was covered with plank. Bunks were 
erected for the men in the 'tween decks, all stores 
removed from the quarter hatch and bunks put 
in there for the quartermasters, and the crow's- 
nest was hoisted up and made fast to the main 
mast, a few feet below the truck. The crow's- 
nest or barrel was a most comfortable place. One 
entered through a trap door in the bottom, and 
when this was closed there was no draught. 
Around the edge of the barrel and sticking out 
some distance there was an iron rail upon which 
the glass could rest, the latter being kept in a 
canvas bag or pocket inside. From there the ship 
was navigated, a wire going to the engine room 
and ringing the bell, but orders to the man at the 
wheel were called down. While these changes 
were taking place, in company with the surgeon 
of the Arctic, I wandered all over St. John's and 
the neighborhood, and enjoyed the hospitality of 
many residents. It was some distance around 
the end of the harbor to the city, but we could 
skate across if we liked. The weather was in- 
tensely cold and the land was covered with deep 
snow. 

The Aurora having been converted into a 
sealer, and having taken on board her supplies 
and exchanged her beautiful whale-boats for a 
number of very crude looking punts, moved over 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 37 

to the north side of the harbor, and waited for 
sailing day to take her crew on board. 

It may not be out of place to make a few re- 
marks here about seals and sealing generally. 
Most people know that seal fisheries exist, but 
few have any idea of their extent. The ice-fields 
of Newfoundland and Labrador produce more 
than anywhere else; but Greenland, Northern 
Europe, the seas around Jan Mayen, Nova Zem- 
bla and Spitzbergen produce also a great harvest, 
and the fur-bearing seals of the Aleutian Islands 
must not be forgotten. Sealing on the east coast 
of Greenland is entirely in the hands of natives, 
but the industry in other places is chiefly prose- 
cuted by Europeans and Americans. Lindeman 
tells us that in 1720 the ports of the Weser sent 
out ships, that in 1760 Hamburg sent nineteen 
which took 44,722 seals, that in 1862 five German 
ships took 17,000, five Danish 5,000, fifteen Nor- 
wegian 63,000 and twenty-two British 51,000; so 
this gives one an idea of the extent to which Great 
Britain was represented. In 1876 the Dundee 
ships alone took 53,000, valued at over £34,000. 
It was the custom for the British sealers to arrive 
in Bressa Sound, Shetland, about the end of Feb- 
ruary, and there pick up a considerable part of 
their crews, getting to the ice about the middle 
of March. The young seals were in good condi- 
tion about this time and had not yet taken to the 
water, so afforded an easy prey to their foes. 
Around Newfoundland, sealing has gone on with 
great profit to all engaged for probably one hun- 



38 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

dred and fifty years, and a glance at the following 
table will give some idea of its extent : 



In 1805 


81,088 were taken 


1818 


145,072 


1822 


306,982 


1831 


686,836 


1840 


631,385 


1850 


598,860 


1860 


444,202 


1872 


278,372 


1881 


447,903 



Roughly, about 350,000 every year, the greatest 
catch being 685,530 in 1844. 

Harvey tells us that in 1857 there were nearly 
four hundred vessels of 80 to 200 tons burthen 
engaged in the industry, employing altogether 
13,600 men, and that the year's catch was worth 
$1,700,000. Now, about eight to ten thousand 
men are engaged, and the seal fishing yields about 
one-eighth part of the entire exports of the coun- 
try. 

Steam was first used in 1863 and then the sail- 
ing ships began to decrease in number. In 1884 
more than thirty steamers were used, while the 
sailing ships had become scarce. 

With the advent of steam, the Dundee owners 
began casting covetous eyes at Newfoundland. 
The western ocean passage could be made early 
in the year, and the sealing taken in en route to 
the whaling. It became necessary to arrange 
with agents at St. John's, or to build yards where 
the cargo of seals could be taken care of, leaving 




The " Aurora ' 




The "Arctic" 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 39 

the vessel free to proceed north. At this time six 
ships represented Dundee. 

Arctic, Captain Guy 
Narwhal, Captain Phillips 
Aurora, Captain Jas. Fairweather 
Polynia, Captain Walker 
Esquimaux, Captain Milne 
Thetis, Captain Alex. Fairweather 

The Resolute, Captain Jackman, could hardly 
be called a Dundee ship, and it so happened that 
the Thetis went on other business this year; but 
the above were the usual six. 

The seals forming our cargo from the New- 
foundland ice were harps (Phoca Greenlandica), 
so called on account of a peculiar mark on each 
side of the adult, extending from near the shoul- 
der to near the tail, and hoods (Cystophora Cris- 
tata), so called on account of a large inflatable 
sac on the nose of the male. On our trip to Lab- 
rador we secured quite a number of hoods, but on 
our first trip our cargo was practically one of 
harps. Both these species are migratory, coming 
south in winter and working north in summer as 
the ice recedes. As the banks of Newfoundland 
swarm with fish, they form a pleasant winter 
resort for the seals, and are very convenient to 
the floes on which they spend February and 
March. Harbor seals (Phoca vetulini) and square 
flippers (Phoca barbatus) are also found on the 
coast. 

The breeding ice of the seal is the goal of every 
master in the trade, but there are no rules for 



40 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

finding it. One may consider the influence of cur- 
rents and winds, and may navigate accordingly 
only to find the seals are not found where ex- 
pected. In our own case, the Captain told me the 
day we left St. John's that he had no definite idea 
of where to go. Nevertheless we awoke one morn- 
ing to find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of 
thousands. 

Young seals are born on the Newfoundland ice 
February 15th to 25th, and are in perfect condition 
for the market by March 20th, as they have been 
well fed by their mothers until then. They are 
a yellowish white when born and remain so until 
they begin to take to the water, when the longish 
white hair is rapidly shed and the young one 
quickly loses its condition. 

Owing to the exciting nature of the work, a 
trip to the ice is the desire of nearly every New- 
foundland boy. The great danger is fog coming 
down while the men are sealing far from the ship, 
and next comes the danger of losing the ship and 
drifting about on the floes until possibly death 
takes place from cold and starvation. 

In 1872 one hundred men perished, fifty going 
down with the Huntsman on the coast of Lab- 
rador. The Bloodhound and Retriever were lost 
the same year, their crews escaping to Battle Har- 
bor after terrible hardships. 

Scoresby tells us of the classical disaster which 
occurred in 1774 about sixty miles east of Jan 
Mayen. The sealing fleet, consisting of over fifty 
vessels, met at the ice edge on March the 29th. 




lolloway, St. Johns, Nfld. 



Home Sweet Home 




Holloway, St. Johns, JNnd. 



Hood Seals 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 41 

The whole fleet entered the ice streams and their 
boats went off sealing. A storm suddenly arose, 
destroying five of the ships and injuring many 
more, while most of the sealers who were far from 
their ships were never seen again, almost six hun- 
dred men being lost. One could not talk to a 
sealer long without learning of some horrible ac- 
cident which had occurred to himself or a friend, 
and while some of them were given to romance, 
there could be no question about the perils they 
encountered or about their braverv and endur- 
ance. 

Toward the end of February, the sweilers, as 
they are called, began to arrive in St. John's look- 
ing for berths. As the steamers afforded better 
opportunities, the able men got them, while the 
older ones took to the sailing craft, where life was 
not so strenuous. These men were dressed very 
much alike and were most athletic; some of them 
were perfectly wonderful in the way they jumped 
from pan to pan, barely touching some of the 
smaller ones in passage. The owners did not 
overfeed the men on these trips, providing them 
with sea biscuits and pinnacle tea chiefly, pork 
and duff being served only three days a week and 
salt fish on Fridays. The water from which the 
tea was brewed was obtained by thawing pinna- 
cles of ice. When ice floes came together they 
rafted one on to the other and shattered frag- 
ments stuck up in all directions. Snow piled upon 
these and was frozen. When water was wanted, 
a body of men with axes went on the ice and broke 



42 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

off the pinnacles, which were taken on board and 
stacked on deck. As water was required these 
were put into a tank and steam turned on. Tea 
was made with this water, and molasses added in 
place of cream and sugar. Our water for the 
cabin use was not obtained from this source. 

On steamers the crew received one-third of the 
catch, on sailing ships one-half. This was made to 
the Newfoundland men only on the Dundee ships, 
the Dundee crew getting paid so much a month, 
as well as a fraction of the catch. "When a ship 
was amongst the white coats, as the young seals 
were called, the crew lived well, as they ate the 
livers, hearts and nippers of the seals. The men 
carried a supply of livers and hearts in their belts 
and ate them frozen or cooked as opportunity 
afforded. It is easy to see how little cooking can 
be done for a crew of three hundred men on a 
small ship. I have often seen a man tie a cord to 
a liver and drop it into a pot of tea sitting on the 
galley stove, drawing it out when warmed up or 
when the owner of the pot came for his tea. 

Sailing ships were allowed to leave port on 
March 1st, but steamers could not clear for the 
sealing until March 10th, and the laws were very 
strictly enforced. It was not unusual for a ship 
to have her pans of seals pilfered by another ship 
during a fog, and this often led to legal complica- 
tions. I have frequently seen our men cut pri- 
vate marks on the fatty sides of the sculps so that 
they might be identified afterwards. Of course, 
any ship would pick up a pan which had lost its 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 43 

flag. Sometimes the sweilers had great luck, 
being gone only a week or two and coming back 
with their pockets full. A sculp was worth $2.00 
to $3.00, and as the men received one-third of all 
taken, it amounted to a good deal for them, and 
as it came off at a season when there was nothing 
else being done, it added greatly to its value. 

Ships engaging in this work had to have their 
hold bulkheaded off so that, should they encoun- 
ter bad weather, the cargo would not shift. As 
the Aurora was tanked, that was all that was 
necessary. If the ship were long in reaching port 
after taking her seals on board, the fat might 
break down and the oil flood everything, unless 
the ship had tanks. In our case the sculps were 
on board such a short time that they were as fresh 
looking when landed as when taken. The fat was 
separated from the skin on shore by a man with 
a long knife. He drew a sculp over a board and 
caught the edge of it with his left hand ; using the 
knife with his right, in a few sweeps he removed 
all the blubber. This was thrown into a sausage 
machine and afterwards steamed in tanks to ex- 
tract the oil, which was refined by exposure to the 
sun's rays. The oil was used for machinery and 
in lighthouses, and the skins were made into har- 
ness, boots, etc., farmers using the refuse for fer- 
tilizing purposes. 

When one saw this small army of fine looking, 
hard working and very poor men, he could not 
help being sorry that their forefathers in emi- 
grating had not gone a little further and settled 



44 A VOYAGE TO THE AECTIC 

in Canada or the United States, instead of on this 
inhospitable land. Think of how comparatively 
easy their lives would have been, and what a re- 
turn they would have reaped for their work. 
Newfoundland meant to every one of them a life 
of toil with not much more hope than the mother 
country could have given them. Poor soil and a 
relentless winter mean this as a rule in a coun- 
try the mineral resources of which have not been 
developed. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 45 



CHAPTER IV 

NEWFOUNDLAND SEALING 

" The ice was here, the ice was there, 
The ice was all around; 

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, 
Like noises in a swound." 

March 10th. At five A. M. all was life on board 
the Aurora. On awaking, I had coffee, which was 
in the cabin, and, muffling up well, I went on deck, 
as it was bitterly cold. The night was cloudy and 
dark but the ship was illuminated with torches, 
and on each side of the gangway stood the mate 
and ice-master, calling the roll. The Newfound- 
land men came on board as their names were 
called, about three hundred in all, including the 
quartermasters, who lived down in the quarter- 
hatch. The men all wore boots made of untanned 
seal skin, from which the hair had been removed. 
They were very light and serviceable and came 
up to the knee. Spikes were driven into the soles 
to prevent slipping on the ice, and the decks were 
preserved from these by rough plank sheathing. 
There was great wrangling and disputing, as 
many of the men had been celebrating the occa- 
sion. 

At six A. M. we cast loose and by degrees 



46 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

broke our way from the wharf. The scene, when 
the sun arose, was intensely interesting; all the 
sealing ships were out, trying to crush their way 
towards the narrows, and, as the harbor was en- 
tirely frozen over, this was hard work. Two 
ships, the Resolute and the Polynia, were behind 
us, and these last sent two or three hundred to 
assist our Newfoundland crew in pulling on a haw- 
ser over our bows, while our Scotch crew on board 
ran backwards and forwards across the deck to 
make the ship roll. This rolling often helped 
greatly when the ship put her bows in a crack. 
Our method was to go full speed astern for a few 
yards, and then full speed ahead, the eight or 
nine hundred men on the ice pulling for all they 
were worth at the same time, and the Aurora's 
men on board running across the deck to keep up 
the roll. As there were thousands of men simi- 
larly employed on and about the other ships, and 
as they were all singing, the scene may be imag- 
ined. 

The Nimrod and Neptune were moving on, well 
ahead of us, and when we got into their wake, the 
Aurora moved along faster. It was eight bells 
by the time we passed through the narrows; there 
the ice was much looser, so we all pushed off in 
our various directions to look for the breeding 
haunts of seals. Captain Fairweather kept a 
little nearer shore than the others, and by evening 
there were only a few ships in sight. 

I retired early, as I had been up for many hours, 
and even the bumping and thumping of the ship, 




Hollo way, St. Johns, in lid. 



Freeing the Ship 




Hollowav, St. Johns, Nfld. 



The Neptune 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 47 

as she went full speed ahead and full speed astern 
every few minutes all night, did not keep me 
awake. 

March 11th. When I went on deck, a wonder- 
ful Arctic scene presented itself. A snow storm 
was raging and the ship looked as though she had 
been fast there for years. She was literally buried 
in snow, and the weather was so cold that the 
snow had frozen on her yards and rigging. The 
morning was dark and one could not see very far. 
Under the starboard bow the ice was heavy, caus- 
ing the ship to lie over to port. The wind was 
from the southeast and had driven the ice in on us. 
There was a great deal of creaking and crunching 
from moving floes and the wind made a lot of 
noise in the rigging. By noon the weather had 
moderated and the snow ceased; by night the 
wind was coming from the northeast and the ice 
slackened, the ship being upon an even keel. Of 
course, snow was not allowed to remain very long 
on deck, as our big crew had nothing to do but 
shovel it off. 

I looked into the 'tween-decks and saw a horri- 
ble mess. The bunks were full of men, many play- 
ing cards, as each bunk held four. They must 
have been stifled. For light, lamps burning seal 
oil were used, and the reek coming from the main 
hatch would almost have suggested fire. 

During the night, the ship got under way, and 
her bumping awoke me several times. 

March 12th. In the morning, we were again 
beset. Hearing a noise on deck, I went up. On 



48 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

the poop a lot of duffs were lying about like 64 lb. 
shot. A crowd of angry men could be seen on the 
main deck and facing them was the Captain. A 
big Newfoundland man came up the steps and, 
breaking a duff in two, held it up and .asked the 
Captain to look at it. It was an awkward moment 
and called for immediate action. But the Cap- 
tain was a man of action, so he planted a blow 
between the man's eyes and asked him to look 
at that; the man dropped back dazed and the 
trouble came to an end at once. 

The Captain told a story at breakfast about a 
steward once saying that more tea would not be 
required for the next voyage as he had been boil- 
ing the leaves from the cabin and giving it to the 
crew. An order was at once issued to serve out 
good tea of the proper strength instead. Next 
morning all hands came aft to complain about 
the black stuff the cook was serving out, and de- 
manding that proper tea, such as they had been 
having, should be served. 

The weather was now fine, and the world very 
white, the only visible black being a pond of open 
water half a mile to the east of us. The wind was 
again from the east and the cold intense; in fact, 
one could hardly face it on account of small par- 
ticles of ice driven by it. 

After breakfast I took my rifle and went to 
the lee side of the open water. It was perhaps 
a fourth of a mile long and a hundred and fifty 
yards wide. Every little while a few seals would 
bob up at one end of the hole and then, giving 




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-» "• -O 



Holloway, St. Johns, Nfld. 



Bound for the Sealing 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 49 

a few plunges, disappear. I crouched behind a 
pinnacle for shelter and, watching past the side 
of it, soon had a shot. I fancied I heard the bullet 
strike, but the seal disappeared; presently an- 
other came. This time I was sure that I saw the 
water around bloodstained, but there was a ripple 
and it was difficult to see anything lying low on 
it. I spent several hours at this work and was 
perfectly certain I had hit many seals. On one 
occasion, I saw the side of one I had shot, with 
the water breaking over it, but presently it dis- 
appeared. I knew that at this season the animals 
would float, and as I was on the lee side, why did 
they not drift down to me? Cold at last drove 
me back to the Aurora, and, on relating my ex- 
periences, the ice-master told me that I would 
find the dead animals at the weather side of the 
hole, as the ice, drifting before the wind, would 
travel faster than the dead and almost completely 
submerged seals. So taking a man with me, I 
had the satisfaction of seeing seven big male 
harps pulled out, the first I had ever killed and 
the first secured by the ship. 

During the afternoon the ice eased off and the 
ship again proceeded. She was getting along 
pretty well at bedtime, but not making any par- 
ticular course. 

March 13th. It was about five A. M. when the 
steward came to my room and lit the lamp. He 
said we were among the " white coats " and he 
seemed greatly pleased. I dressed and, going up, 
found bright moonlight. The ship was hard and 



50 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

fast. In every direction I could hear sounds like 
the crying of children. I could also see gangs of 
men on the ice and some coming on board. The 
men had been taking advantage of the moon- 
light to begin their work, and all were in splendid 
spirits, as a full ship meant much to them. 

About six the whistle sounded for all hands to 
come on board for breakfast, and after that they 
were organized into companies, commanded by 
their own quartermasters, and proceeded about 
the slaughter in a well regulated manner. Each 
man carried a spruce pole, on the end of which 
was a sort of boat hook called a " gaff," and each 
also had a tow rope. The method of proceeding 
was as follows: 

A company would go in a certain direction and 
then scatter. A man would kill four or five white- 
coats by hitting them on the head with his gaff. 
He would pull them together and sculp them, that 
is, with his sculping knife he would make an 
incision on the under surface of the body, its en- 
tire length, through the skin and fat. Now the 
skin, with its subcutaneous fat, was very loosely 
adherent to the rest of the body of the young 
seal, so with a very few sweeps of the knife the 
body was separated and thrown away. He then 
made a few holes along each side of the sculp, 
which was oblong, and through these laced his 
tow rope. When the four or &ve had been thus 
arranged, he towed them to a selected pan, where 
they were piled with the others, and when the 
seals in the immediate neighborhood had been 




Holloway, St. Johns, Mnd. 



Establishing a Pan 




Holloway, St. Johns, Nfld. 



A Pan of Sculps 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 51 

killed and piled there, a pole was stuck up, bearing 
a flag on which was the name of the ship, and this 
being done, the sealers moved on and established 
another pan. 

While the St. John's men were busy with the 
sealing, the Scotch crew remained on the ship, 
throwing the coal overboard. The ship, leaving 
Newfoundland, took a lot of coal, as she did not 
know where she might have to go or how long she 
might be away. In our case, we found the seals 
at once, so the coal, being of no further use and of 
no value, compared with the seals, was thrown 
overboard. 

I went aloft to have a look at our surroundings. 
We were in Bonavista Bay, and in the distance I 
saw the Neptune sealing. She was a large ship 
and took an enormous cargo. It seemed too bad 
that these should be the only two vessels in the 
midst of this harvest. I saw, with the glass, seals 
by the thousand; they were principally to the 
north of us, and it was evident that we would fill 
the ship, unless a gale broke up the ice too soon. 
Astern, I noticed a patch of ice on which there 
were lots of old harps. Getting my rifle and going 
over to the place, I found a great many seal holes 
in the ice. I watched. A seal would stick its 
head out of one and, seeing me, would instantly 
go down again. This was going on all over the 
area before me. Sitting down, I decided to take 
the first head presenting itself. By watching any 
given hole, one would probably very soon have 
a shot, but it was more exciting to take the heads 



52 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

as they came up. It was very quick shooting and 
good sport. Every time I hit a seal, I killed it, 
because only the head could be seen. At this sea- 
son, the animals, being in prime condition, floated; 
but getting one out of its hole was very difficult. If 
one turned it around and seized the hind flippers, 
the fore flippers caught the ice, and there was 
nothing to take hold of about its head. I found, 
that by sticking an empty cartridge through the 
nose and catching this at each side, a man could 
manage to pull the seal out by throwing himself 
back. I amused myself at this game until eight 
bells, when I went on board for dinner and found 
the Captain in splendid spirits. There was every 
chance of his filling his ship and being first in, and 
I questioned whether these honors had ever been 
obtained by any Scotch master at the Newfound- 
land sealing before. After dinner, I took a man 
with me who pulled out the seals and sculped 
them, hauling them to the ship, which remained 
fast. The crew got on well with the coal and soon 
had several tanks cleaned out and ready for the 
nearest pan, and by night we had about 2,500 on 
board. I went aloft again and saw our pan flags 
flying in great numbers, while the men were very 
busy several miles aAvay. After dark, the sealers 
came on board and reported having killed prob- 
ably 10,000. Many of the men had given them- 
selves bad cuts with their sharp sculping knives, 
but all were very happy, forward and aft. 

March 14th. Every one up at dawn. The ship 
was alongside a pan when I came on deck, and the. 




Harp Seals 




Holloway, St. Johns, Nfld. 



Sculping 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 53 

winch was going all the time, while the orders 
" Heave away port," " Heave away starboard," 
were being constantly given, and every few 
minutes a bunch of sculps would be hauled on 
board and thrown below by the men on deck. 
When this pan was cleaned up, the officer in the 
barrel directed the ship's course to the next, and 
so it went, all day long, a portion of the crew work- 
ing coal as usual. I went aloft and saw our men, 
five or six miles away, piling up our cargo. In 
the afternoon, I went off: in the direction the men 
were and fortunately I had a gaff with me. I had 
on very thick clothes and a pilot jacket over all. 
When about a mile from the ship, and while walk- 
ing over a nice, smooth piece of ice, I noticed that 
it was bending under me. I turned and was get- 
ting back to the hummocks, when I went through. 
Fortunately, the gaff caught on both sides and I 
only went in up to my arms, so was able to climb 
out. The cold of the water was intense and I had 
a fright. Before reaching the ship, my clothes 
were frozen hard. One great comfort about the 
Aurora was that she was a steamer, so when any 
accidents of this kind occurred, it was a great 
thing, having the top of the boiler to retire to. 
Here one had warmth at any rate. As there was 
nothing much separating the top of our boiler 
from the stoke hole, there was a deposit of ashes 
and soot, but a little thing like that did not much 
trouble a man fished out of a frozen sea. 

It was cold and dark when the sealers began 
coming on board and a fog was settling down, so 



54 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

about nine P. M. we were quite uneasy over some 
who had not turned up. The whistle sounded fre- 
quently, and it was a relief when the last ap- 
peared. Some were really very much exhausted 
and were given rum. 

We took on board about five thousand seals 
and the men had killed many thousand more. 

March 15th. A snow storm blowing, so the men 
could not go to the sealing, and very little new 
work was accomplished. However, the ship 
managed to reach a lot of her pans, and the New- 
foundland men hauled the sculps from others far- 
ther away, so that by night, four thousand more 
were on board. Coal was worked energetically all 
day. 

The barometer was rising at night and the snow 
had ceased, so the weather looked more settled. 

March 16th. Sealers away when I came on 
deck, and our own crew very busy with the seals 
and coal. The ice showed a lot of leads and there 
were seals in the open ponds, so I spent my time 
at them with the rifle and had some good shooting. 

At dinner the mate told us we had taken on 
board over three thousand sculps and by night 
two thousand more were added to these. About 
sixteen thousand five hundred were now on board. 

I spent some time aloft. The glare from the ice 
was fearfully trying as the sun was very bright. 
Owing to the open character of the ice, we fol- 
lowed the sealers quite well. We found several of 
our pans broken by the weight of seals on them; 
in every case we saw sharks in the open water 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 55 

beside the broken pan. Once the ship had her 
engines going ahead to keep her bows against the 
ice, while she took seals on board (I was looking 
over the rail aft), when I saw a shark gliding up 
to the propeller. It hit him on the side and cut a 
flap out about two feet long. He swam about with 
this mass hanging from him for awhile and then 
went back to the propeller, which finished him 
with an awful gash across the neck. This was the 
only one I saw killed. 

The night was clear and the men had no diffi- 
culty in getting on board. 

March 17th. It was blowing and the ice was 
rather tight; there was also some snow, so the 
sealers were employed bringing sculps on board, 
as pans were being broken. I saw one split in two. 
Half the sculps had been lost in the water, and 
there were numbers of sharks around. A man 
stuck his gaff into one several times, and it did 
not appear to mind. It was difficult getting the 
seals on board as the heavy snow squalls pre- 
vented our seeing the leads. However, twenty- 
five hundred more were secured from broken pans 
in our immediate neighborhood. The ship was 
drifting south all the time; and the Neptune was 
still in sight when it cleared in the afternoon. 

March 18th. All hands up early and a good start 
made. Nearly all the coal over the side. I 
watched the men bringing on board pinnacles in 
the morning. As they had been sealing steadily 
for a week and had not paid much attention to 
their toilets, sleeping in their clothes, etc., and as 



56 A VOYAGE TO THE AECTIC 

each one had a fringe of frozen livers sticking in 
his belt, and the sheathed decks were soaking in 
oil, the pinnacles had a chance of acquiring a nutri- 
tions quality which must have given body to the 
tea manufactured out of them. However, the men 
did not mind, and as our cabin supply of water 
was all right, I did not mind either. 

The ship picked up a lot of pans and added five 
thousand more to our collection. Towards eve- 
ning it became foggy and cold, and we had several 
frights about men being lost. One fellow came on 
board and stated that he had seen so and so two 
miles from the ship, unable to proceed. Some 
rum was given to him and with a couple of others 
he started orf to bring the exhausted one in. All 
were on board safely by nine P. M. There was no 
doubt but that often the rum served out found its 
way into throats that were far from being too 
weak to swallow, but such dreadful accidents have 
occurred that one acts on the safe side. There was 
no abuse of liquor on board the Aurora, but the 
Captain did not hesitate to supply it when abso- 
lutely necessary. 

March 19th. A nice day for sealing, as there 
was no difficulty getting about to the pans. We 
brought on board about two thousand, and the 
ship was practically full. ISTow we began to clear 
out the 'tween-decks and to throw the men's 
bunks overboard. They did not object to a few 
days of supreme discomfort because they received 
one-third of the catch. We had the bunkers filled 
with coal and a lot of sacks piled upon the poop, 




Holloway, St. Johns, Nfld. 



Hauling vSculps over the Ice 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 57 

and every available place was cleared out for this 
valuable cargo. The ship began to look dirty, as 
she had scraped off her paint, and the coal dust 
and oil had been liberally applied. 

It began to blow in the afternoon, with snow 
squalls. All the men were on board in good time. 

During the day I caught a young seal. It had 
shed nearly all its long white hair and the short, 
silvery coat underneath looked very pretty. I 
amused myself plucking the balance of the 
original coat. The seal appeared to enjoy it. It 
was killed accidentally a few days later. 

March 20th. Blowing hard with snow squalls. 
A number of pans were broken and many sculps 
lost, but we secured all we wanted; about one 
thousand came on board and the 'tween-decks 
were nearly full. 

March 21st. A fine day, but the ship beset, so 
we cleaned up and finished off the 'tween-decks; 
then we put all on deck that we thought the ship 
would carry. This would not have been done had 
the ship had to go any distance, but all the time 
we were sealing we had been drifting south, so 
that we were now a very short distance from St. 
John's. The Captain and mate would stand on 
the ice and look her over and then decide that 
perhaps she would carry a few more, and so on, 
until there was not much of the Aurora's hull 
above the water. The ice opened in the afternoon 
and we laid our course for St. John's, steaming 
half speed. The ship was decorated with flags, 
the men cheering and singing — at least two hun- 



58 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

dred of them without shelter; they stood upon 
the forecastle head and among the sculps on deck. 
The wind had died away and it was a beautiful 
afternoon. There were plenty of leads and the 
ice becoming more open every hour. 

March 22nd. During the night we passed 
through Baccalieu Tickle and in the morning we 
were close to the coast. As we steamed through 
the narrows, the men climbed the rigging and 
cheered. We had accomplished a wonderful 
thing. The ship was the first in of the year, and 
was also full. Soon we were tied up at our old 
berth on the south side, and our crew were busy 
discharging our cargo of about twenty-eight 
thousand seals. Each young seal counted one in 
settling with the crew and each old seal counted 
two; of course, an old seal took up much more 
room than two young ones, and on a voyage like 
this, where the ship could be filled with young, 
the crew were not anxious to kill old ones. On 
our two trips, the Aurora actually killed 28,150, 
but the crew were paid for 29,300. 




Holloway, St. Johns, Nfld. 

A Baby Seal 




Holloway, St. Johns, Nfld. 

Removing Fat from Sculp 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 59 



CHAPTER V 

THE LABRADOR SEALING 

" Now, Brothers, for the icebergs of frozen Labrador 
Floating spectral in the moonshine, along the low black 

shore! 
When the mist the rock is hiding and the sharp reef lurks 

below 
And the white squall smites in summer, and the autumn 

tempests blow." 

The work of discharging our cargo began at 
once — first the sculps on deck, then those in the 
'tween-decks and then those in the tanks. There- 
after the ship was given a rough cleaning; new 
berths were erected in the 'tween-decks and 
quarter-hatch but not so many as before. The 
bunkers and tanks were coaled and then we cast 
about for a crew. All the seals taken on this 
second cruise would have to be shot, so we did not 
expect to bring back very many; but the Aurora 
had her own Scotch crew under pay, and they had 
to be fed, so she might as well be at sea picking up 
a few seals as lying in the harbor waiting for 
May 1st. It was not so very easy finding a crew 
as they would have little to eat and could not pos- 
sibly earn much money. However, at last we were 
ready and on Wednesday, April 2nd, sailed. We 
had heard nothing of the Arctic, and very little of 
any of the other ships. The Neptune came in 



60 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

after us with about 40,000, which was a tre- 
mendous cargo, but she was a big ship. There 
was much more room with our reduced Newfound- 
land crew, and we steamed out of the narrows for 
the second time with the ship very much more 
comfortable than on the first occasion. 

I must say the appearance of the Aurora at this 
time was disreputable in the extreme. The paint 
had been scraped off by the ice, and the filthy 
sheathing covered the decks, while the fragrant 
bilge water flowed from her side in a pellucid 
stream. 

The Captain told me that he intended following 
the seals which were going north towards 
Labrador and that he expected to fall in with 
great herds of year-olds, called bedlamers. We 
left port after breakfast and steamed out onto a 
calm sea, shaping our course north. During the 
afternoon we saw patches of ice scattered about 
and when night came we slowed down and kept a 
bright lookout. 

April 2nd was a blustery day with occasional 
snow showers. There was no sea, however, to 
tumble the ship about as there was a good deal of 
ice. We were easily able to avoid the fields by 
steaming around them. Some were very heavy 
looking, having quantities of rafted ice on them. 
Towards night, it became calm and thick. 

April 4th. Steamed dead slow all night as it 
was thick. In the morning the sea was calm but 
still foggy. This was pea-soup day. We always 
had pea soup on Fridays; we also always had fish 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 61 

for breakfast; it was salt cod. The salt was taken 
out in some way and then the fish was cut into 
very small pieces and boiled with broken up sea 
biscuits and butter, pepper, etc. I have never 
tasted anything so good since. In fact, I have 
never since tasted anything so good as the food on 
the whaler after the first month. There was an 
absurd arrangement about our meals; it was all 
right at sea, but in Greenland, when we walked 
about during the night perhaps as much as during 
the day, it was distressing. Breakfast was at 
eight, dinner at noon, and tea at five; there was 
no regulation meal between five P. M. and eight 
A. M. I modified this by having a special meal 
at eleven P. M. At that time I took a pot of cof- 
fee from the galley and retired to the pantry for 
a quiet half hour. 

April 5th. The day was fine. A good deal of ice 
was in sight and occasional seals could be seen. 
When one was seen ahead, or a few points on 
either bow, the ship bore down upon it. As we 
came close, the seal would first raise its head to 
see what was coming, then raise its body upon 
its flippers and stare. 

A number of men with rifles were always on 
the forecastle head and of this number I was gen- 
erally one. If some one did not try too long a shot 
and frighten it, we always killed the seal. We 
had a large number of punts on board and one was 
towed astern in the daytime and with it every 
seal was picked up. They all counted. Some days 
we had very good sport and I enjoyed it. 



62 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

April 6th. Sunday. Duff: day. We had plum 
pudding on Sundays and Thursdays. The pud- 
dings were not round, but oval. The steward made 
delicious sauce out of condensed milk and, of 
course, we had the Spartan sauce with everything. 
The Captain was very consistent in his observa- 
tion of Sunday — no unnecessary work was done 
on that day. If there were whales, we fished, but 
I never saw a man kept at work on Sunday if it 
could be avoided. This day we did the usual shoot- 
ing from the forecastle head. The temptation to 
shoot first was dreadful. I dare say we picked up 
fifteen or twenty seals. This was a sad Sunday 
because of the death of our canary. I was in the 
cabin when Jack, the steward, discovered the fact. 
He immediately took the seed box out of the cage 
to the pantry, filled it and brought it back. Cap- 
tain Eairweather came down shortly after to 
breakfast and immediately noticed the absence of 
the bird, as it was always hopping about and ma- 
king a noise. Jack was called. A look of surprise 
came over his face when asked about the canary 
and he immediately climbed on to the seat and, 
looking into the cage, said, with tears in his eyes, 
" Oh, Sir, the poor wee bird is deid; " adding, as 
he pulled out the drawer, " Well, it is not for want 
of plenty to eat. " I don't think for a moment that 
the bird died of starvation, but Jack wanted to 
simplify the post-mortem inquiry by eliminating 
that possibility. Our steward was a remarkable 
man and eminently qualified by nature for his 
position. He could produce a look of absolute 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 63 

innocence or of sympathy at a moment's notice; 
his suaviter in modo would have fitted him for the 
diplomatic service ; and as a dreamer he was with- 
out a peer. 

There is a great knack about dreaming. To 
make a reputation and keep it up even on a 
whaler requires the judgment of a Delphic priest. 

It was the presence of Jack, the steward, that 
gave the atmosphere of a home to the Aurora's 
cabin and we all liked him. 

April 7th. I saw a most interesting thing to- 
day. It was an old dog hood; to call it Cystophora 
Cristata might give the describer some relief; but 
it would convey no idea of this angry-looking crea- 
ture as he reared up and gazed at us. How we all 
resisted firing until he had exhibited himself, I 
don't know; but when he was looking perfectly 
terrible and fifty yards away, a dozen copper-nosed 
bullets found their billets about his head and neck. 
He was 7% feet long and a tremendous size around 
the shoulders. The bag on his head, when fully dis- 
tended, must have stood eight or nine inches, and 
extended from the muzzle to four inches behind the 
eyes. The hood is only found on the male. It is 
considered ornamental by the females of the same 
species, but horrible looking by all other animals, 
I am sure. The beast added about 400 pounds to 
our little cargo, but the animal, skin and all, cer- 
tainly weighed seven or eight hundred. During 
the day we killed quite a number of hoods, but the 
first was the largest. We did not make much of 
a run, but dodged about and picked things up. A 



64 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

young hood is rather blue-looking on the back and 
white underneath. 

The engine slowed down at night, as usual. 

April 8th. This was one of the most lovely 
days, with bright sunshine, and there was daz- 
zling ice in every direction. To the east of us we 
saw a beautiful barque under canvas; she was 
playing our game, dodging about and picking up 
seals. As she was not a steamer, and had a small 
crew, she was consequently inexpensive to work; 
there was no reason why she should not pay her 
owners well, especially if she got amongst the 
hoods, five or six of which would yield a ton of 
oil. We kept out to her, and finding she was the 
Maud of Dundee, I was sent on board to hear the 
news. I was hospitably entertained by the cap- 
tain, who gave me some old Dundee papers, but 
those I brought from the Aurora were much more 
recent. When I returned, I saw a funny thing 
happen. We had a Newfoundland cook, Jack; 
he had a triangular face with the base up; 
a tuft of hair grew from the apex and was the 
only decoration. With his long shaved upper 
lip, he had an amusing look and he was a char- 
acter. 

The ship was bearing down towards ice upon 
which there was a young hood. It had been in- 
jured and made no effort to escape. Thinking 
it dead, no one fired and we were almost on to it 
when Jack, looking over the side, saw it. He had 
not killed a seal that season, so, seizing a gaff, he 
leaped on to the pan and we all cheered. As Jack 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 65 

lit on the ice, it broke in two. The seal slid grace- 
fully off its half, but Jack's half, almost sub- 
merged, swung around under the ship's quarter, 
where the propeller was threshing away. Jack 
paused for a moment between Scylla and Charyb- 
dis, and then giving a wild leap, he disappeared 
in the sea as far from the propeller as he could 
jump. It was most amusing to see this big man 
give his wild leap; he was fished out by the punt 
astern. A small matter, like a man being half 
drowned, always amused these simple people so 
much. 

I have said that the Newfoundlanders were not 
over-fed on this trip. We had, for cabin use, 
numerous quarters of Dundee beef lashed in our 
tops. They kept splendidly up there. One morn- 
ing the steward reported a quarter of our Dun- 
dee beef stolen. One of the Newfoundland cooks 
was sent for at once and I heard the conversation 
between the angry Captain and the astonished 
cook. I heard the cook report every morning how 
he was on the track of a thief: " Begorra, sor, I 
have my eye on him; " or, " Begorra, sor, I could 
put my hand on the man," and so on until we got 
back without the thief having been turned over; 
I heard afterwards that the cook certainly could 
have at any moment put his hand on the man who 
took the beef. 

April 9th. This was one of the most interest- 
ing days I spent. At breakfast, I heard the cap- 
tain and the mate discussing blinks, that is, re- 
flections. For instance, an ice blink at sea would 



66 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

mean a sort of whitish reflection in the sky over 
an area of ice, or a water blink would be a 
dark reflection in the sky over a dark area. We 
were surrounded by ice and were approaching a 
dark blink. Was it water or seals ? Before break- 
fast was over, the report came from the crow's- 
nest that the seals were ahead. I went aloft and 
saw an extraordinary sight. The ice ahead of us 
appeared to be positively black with seals. They 
covered acres and acres. We steamed right up 
to them and then about twenty men, with rifles, 
went on to the ice and a lot of others followed to 
sculp and haul the sculps to the ship. This ice 
was not solid but made up of thousands of pans 
all detached. They were generally touching in 
places, but two or three sprawls would bring any 
individual seal to some sort of a hole through 
which it could escape; therefore, it had to be 
killed instantly or it would disappear. The shoot- 
ing began at once, the men kneeling down and 
opening up at the nearest animals. Just as fast 
as they could consume ammunition, they fired at 
seals close at hand, and, as these disappeared, at 
those farther away. There was far too much 
shooting for much result. Presently they began 
to get closer. A would kneel down and fire as 
fast as possible so as to use as much ammunition 
as he could before B would pass him. B would 
then rush past and begin shooting, and so on. 
Now, with regard to this rushing about, — we 
were travelling on pans of ice of all sizes, some a 
few feet square, some as large as a table, some 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 67 

twenty times that size, but we certainly had to 
watch where we were going. When the men scat- 
tered, they shot better, but it was much more 
dangerous, as the express bullets were singing 
about everywhere. I had two men who took me 
off to one side and who gave me the best shooting 
I ever enjoyed. The seals were inclined to bask 
in the sun and enjoy themselves; so, if we went 
about it quietly, we could easily stalk a pan and 
advance to within fifty or seventy-five yards ; then, 
if we shot carefully and only hit heads, we would 
not disturb the others. Should we wound one, 
it would not only go down itself but would 
frighten the others on the same pan. I shot off 
a number of entire pans by quietly getting close 
and then picking them off. 

The seal, properly hit, just drops its head, while 
the others hold theirs up for you. This was warm 
work and the barrel of the rifle became so hot that 
I had constantly to put it on the snow to cool off. 
I watched some of the Newfoundland men shoot- 
ing when we started and saw several of them miss 
every shot. All they did was to endanger their 
fellow men and wound an occasional seal; of 
course there were some crack shots among them, 
but it would have paid well to have tested the 
ability of all before serving out rifles to them. As 
there was not a cloud in the sky, we were greatly 
sunburnt and several had a touch of snow-blind- 
ness in spite of wearing colored glasses. We prob- 
ably picked up three or four hundred seals, and 
had there been about eight or ten men who under- 



68 A VOYAGE TO THE AECTIO 

stood the use of firearms, they would have killed 
a thousand easily. 

The sealing cap worn by the Dundee men was 
very suitable. The peak was covered with lamb's 
wool dyed black, so when turned down it absorbed 
a great deal of the glare. Wool had to be wound 
around the metal work of the colored glasses we 
wore on account of the cold. 

April 10th. Nothing makes one rest like a hard 
day's work in the open air. My shoulder was 
black and blue with firing and my ears rang 
with the noise while my eyes smarted and my 
face burned, but I slept like a log until seven 
bells. 

The ship had not moved all night. We were off 
the coast of Labrador, but out of sight of land. 
There was a great deal of ice everywhere and by 
dawn we were steaming north as fast as possible 
in the effort to overtake our game. By noon the 
seals were in sight and we went through the same 
performance as the day before. I did not attempt 
it With the main body, but with two good men 
went off in a slightly different direction. The 
express was certainly a good rifle, and its trajec- 
tory very flat, when we consider the powder. I 
examined a great many wounds that day and in 
every case found the bullet had expanded well 
if it had hit anything hard. These seals were 
nearly all bedlamers and we did not kill any 
hoods either of these days, although we had 
picked up quite a number coming up the coast. 
This was a shorter day, and we did not kill so 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 69 

many. It was quite late when the ship took the 
last of her men on board, for they had become 
scattered. One man had fallen in several times 
and was very much exhausted. However, I was 
able to make him swallow some rum and he soon 
revived. A sailor is very feeble and dissolution 
near at hand when a little rum cannot be coaxed 
down with a spoon or other suitable instrument 
—even then I would not advise leaving the bottle 
close to him while looking for the spoon, lest, 
during his unconscious struggles, he should spill 
it. 

April 11th. We were always on the lookout for 
the Arctic, but saw nothing of her. Before leav- 
ing St. John's we heard that the Thetis had been 
sold to the American Government for the Greely 
relief expedition, so she would not appear among 
the sealers that year. Captain Fairweather's 
brother was master of her, so he was disap- 
pointed. 

We kept north in our effort to overtake the 
seals, the barometer falling a little towards eve- 
ning, and a swell coming in from the southeast. 
We were well on the outer or eastern edge of the 
ice, as the Captain did not want to take any 
chance of being jammed among heavy floes com- 
ing down the coast. During the evening we had 
a most wonderful sunset. The sky was red not 
only to the west, but nearly all over, and the reflec- 
tion on the ice was magnificent. The frozen sea is 
fascinating when the sun goes down and before 
dark; also by moonlight, or bright starlight. 



70 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

During the day the glare is too great but a moon- 
light night on a frozen sea is the grandest sight 
possible. The weird sounds caused by the ever 
restless ice are a fitting accompaniment. On this 
Friday night, the sounds caused by the ever in- 
creasing sea, crunching the pack up, were rather 
startling at times, but we kept pretty well out 
of it, so we were safe. There was quite a little 
motion on board, owing to the swell, and we 
steamed easy ahead all night, going full speed at 
daybreak, and by noon had the satisfaction of find- 
ing our seals. We went off, but not quite as 
usual. The roll of the sea had crunched the pack 
up and broken all the large sheets of ice, so we 
were obliged to jump from one pan to another 
while they were rising and falling on the long 
swell of the Atlantic. There was nothing sudden 
or uncertain about the motion. The long heavy 
rollers lifted one up and lowered one down, and 
when between them, one could not see very far. 
Now occurred a sort of stalking that I have never 
seen described, i. e., running after a large wave 
and keeping perfectly still when the following 
wave overtook one; then repeating the stalk, 
always running in the trough between the two 
waves. In this manner I did some efficient work 
and shot a great many seals. 

Most of the time was spent watching where to 
put my feet; but, on feeling the rise coming, I 
stood perfectly still and watched the seals. I was 
regaled with accounts of men who had been in- 
jured and cut in two by this sort of thing; but 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 71 

we did not meet with the slightest accident and 
every one was picked up by sundown. The ship 
managed to follow through the ice pretty well, 
picking up a few seals here and there, as they had 
been sculped, so that we added several hundreds 
to our collection. 

April 13th. Sunday. The day was fine and we 
picked up occasional seals but did not find a herd. 
It was a complete day of rest for all hands. The 
ice to the west of us looked very heavy and the 
Captain was careful to avoid it. We lay to at 
night, but by daybreak on Monday morning we 
were dodging north again. 

April 14th. I had my first shot at a walrus, 
sea-horse, as it is called. Shortly after breakfast 
the usual rifles were on the forecastle head when 
the officer in the crow's-nest called down that he 
saw a walrus. The ship was kept down on it, and 
presently we all saw the big animal with his long 
white tusks. In this case, they were very long 
and could be seen from a great distance. He was 
on a pan with open water all around, so we 
steamed straight at him. As we approached, he 
raised himself higher and higher on his flippers 
and disappeared after having received a fearful 
fusillade, at less than a ship's length. I would 
have liked the chance of examining his skin just 
to count the hits and see the effect. We heard 
the thud of striking bullets, but the walrus gave 
a plunge and was seen no more. 

We did the usual amount of sealing from the 
ship, but had not any men on the ice. Two or 



72 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

three times we had several punts out, but they 
did not pick up very many. 

April 15th. We dodged back and forth 
amongst the floating ice, keeping a little closer 
to land but not seeing much of interest. There 
was a very large floe which bore evidence of 
great rafting; between the hummocks on it there 
was fresh water, regular ponds with connecting 
channels. I was on this floe, as we shot a few 
seals on it, so tasted the water, which was sweet 
and good. I have often seen quite big ponds on 
floes fast to bergs, and we took water on board 
sometimes from these. 

For the next few days we steamed south with- 
out seeing anything of interest. The weather 
was cold, but fine, and the ice less as we neared 
St. John's. We were careful after dark and gen- 
erally steamed slow. The crew were employed 
in cleaning up. 

April 19th. Saturday. Arrived at St. John's 
in the morning and took our usual berth. Our 
entire catch of seals for the two trips was 28,150, 
but the crew were paid for 29,300 as there were 
some large old seals and they counted more. 

There was great news for us on our arrival. I 
have already mentioned the sale of the Thetis to 
the American Government. We now received 
orders from Dundee to take the place of the The- 
tis and proceed to Davis Straits. The gear re- 
moved from this ship was being sent out to- us 
by an Allan boat. We were to keep our eyes open 
for the lost Greely, as a reward had been offered 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 73 

by the United States for any whaler picking him 
up. 

I certainly never intended going on a long trip 
when sailing, and the Captain told me I could 
leave if I wished, but there was a fascination 
about the whole thing that I enjoyed. 

The Aurora had been getting more comfortable 
all the time,— the first awful experience of a fear- 
ful Atlantic winter passage with the ship loaded 
to the scuppers, then the crowded ship at the first 
sealing, and the much pleasanter trip to Lab- 
rador. 

Now I could see that the ship would be very 
comfortable with only her own crew, and the deck 
clear of boats, as it would be on the next part 
of the cruise, so I decided to go. It took a very 
short time to put our seals out, and, as it was Sat- 
urday afternoon by that time, all the work ceased 
until Monday morning. 

I heard an amusing story about a man being 
nearly drowned in a tank of oil. A sealer came 
in and four of her tanks nearest to the boiler had 
the sculps break down into oil, owing to the heat. 
When the crew were discharging cargo it was the 
custom for a man to jump into a tank and throw 
the sculps out. Coming to the first of these tanks, 
and looking in, some sculps could be seen, and, 
never suspecting that these were a few floating 
on the surface, the man jumped in and disap- 
peared under, but was presently fished out, every 
one thoroughly enjoying the incident except, of 
course, the leading man. 



74 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER VI 

SOMETHING ABOUT THE GREELY RELIEF EXPEDITION 

" But 'tis not mine to tell their tale of grief, 
Their constant peril and their scant relief, 
Their days of danger and their nights of pain; 
Their manly courage e'en when deemed in vain." 

One of the interesting things about our trip 
to the Arctic Seas was the possibility of seeing 
G-reely or of possibly finding him or something 
about him. I shall here give a brief outline of 
what had been done up to this time towards res- 
cuing the gallant explorer and his intrepid fol- 
lowers. 

Every one I met in Newfoundland appeared to 
know a great deal about Greely, because he had 
started from there three years before in a St. 
John's ship, and because both of the previous 
relief expeditions had been in St. John's ships, 
and a great many of the Newfoundland men had 
been with them, and several of our crew at the 
sealing had been on the Proteus. One heard the 
Greely expedition and its relief discussed every 
day. The consensus of opinion was that as the 
navy had the matter in hand now, they would 
succeed. The Newfoundlanders, being a maritime 
people, could not understand how soldiers could 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 75 

be expected to make a success of a voyage of dis- 
covery or relief, and the two previous relief trips 
had been unfortunate. The raison d'etre of the 
Greely expedition was briefly as follows: 

At a certain scientific conference held in Eu- 
rope a series of circumpolar stations had been 
decided upon, from which, owing to their prox- 
imity to the revolutionary axis of our globe, inter- 
esting and useful observations could be made of 
physical phenomena. As these observations were 
to be made at the same time in a great many dif- 
ferent places, they would probably prove of 
greater interest and value than those supplied 
intermittently by expeditions. Now the United 
States was to have two stations, one at Point Bar- 
row on the Behring Sea side, and one at Lady 
Franklin Bay on the Davis Strait side. A young 
officer in the American army, Lieutenant Greely, 
had volunteered for and been selected to take 
charge of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition. 
The steamer Proteus, a Newfoundland sealer, had 
been chartered to convey the party north. She 
was a Dundee-built ship, about the size of the 
Aurora, and her captain and crew were St. John's 
men. They left St. John's on July 7, 1881, having 
on board Lieutenant Greely and twenty-four men, 
with supplies for three years. They made the 
most unprecedented time going north. Crossing 
the dangerous Melville Bay in thirty-six hours 
and getting to within a few miles of her destina- 
tion on August 4th, a few days later she landed 
the explorers, and having successfully accom- 



76 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

plished her mission she returned to her home 
port. 

Melville Bay, the bugbear of many Arctic voy- 
ages, is a very different thing when crossed in 
June by whalers from what it is in July and Au- 
gust; but the whalers must reach their northern 
station by the end of June, so cannot wait for the 
ice to drift south. 

It was arranged that a relief expedition should 
go north in 1882 and another in 1883, while the 
third in 1884 should convey the party back. Now 
these two previous relief expeditions formed the 
topic of conversation in St. John's when the in- 
habitants became tired of discussing seals and 
politics, and I soon heard a good deal about them. 
For the first, in 1882, our friend and late neigh- 
bor, the Neptune, had been chartered. She was 
splendid in every way and did as much as any 
ship of the period could have done towards ma- 
king the thing a success; but the orders were to 
leave two hundred fifty rations at Littleton Is- 
land and two hundred fifty at the furthest point 
reached if the ship failed to get to Lady Franklin 
Bay, and that should they fail to reach the Bay, 
the balance of the stores were to be brought back 
to St. John's. A private in the army had been 
selected to take charge of this expedition. As he 
had been accustomed to obeying orders to the let- 
ter, he deposited the two hundred fifty rations at 
Littleton Island, and two hundred fifty at Cape 
Sabine, the most northern point reached. Then, 
as they were unable to reach Lady Franklin Bay, 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 77 

tie carefully brought back all the balance of the 
cargo of food sent up for the starving Greely, 
twenty days' provisions only having been left in 
the Arctic and this according to orders and prob- 
ably— " Well, though the soldier knew some one 
had blundered." 

The authorities were a little anxious now about 
the brave lieutenant, so they began to make prep- 
arations for the 1883 relief, and this time they 
chartered the Proteus and also sent a small navy 
ship called the Y antic, a craft rather unfitted for 
Arctic work. The Proteus was commanded by 
Captain Pike (the St. John's man who had made 
such a record taking Greely up) and had her New- 
foundland crew. This expedition was in charge 
of a soldier, Lieutenant Grarlington, as the Govern- 
ment wished it all to be an army affair. Owing 
to an accident, a sergeant selected to go on the 
Proteus was disabled, and Lieutenant Colwell, 
U. S. N., was added to the expedition in his place. 
This was fortunate, as things turned out. One 
of our quartermasters on the Aurora during the 
first sealing trip had been one of the crew of the 
Proteus, and he gave me a lot of interesting in- 
formation about it. They left St. John's about 
the end of June and had a nice passage to Disco. 
In fact, they found the road so open that they 
reached Cape Sabine in about twenty-five days. 
As they were in a hurry to reach their destina- 
tion, Lady Franklin Bay, little time was spent 
here and no stores were landed. When the ship 
moved out into Kane Sea she was caught almost 



78 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

at once in heavy polar ice. The officers soon real- 
ized that the ship's position was serious, so began 
to take supplies out of the hold. While so en- 
gaged the side of the ship burst in and she filled. 
The pressure of the ice kept her from sinking for 
a few hours, then some change of wind or tide 
opened the ice and down she went. A great lot 
of provisions and stores had been thrown over- 
board on to the ice, much being lost in so doing. 
After the ship went down her crew took their own 
boats and the soldiers took theirs. Colwell, with 
the help of both parties, succeeded in landing a lot 
of provisions and stores at Cape Sabine, and here 
he cached five hundred rations. It was said that 
many of the soldiers did not know how to row, 
and that some members of the crew of the Proteus 
behaved very badly after the loss of the ship. 
They probably did not consider that the saving 
of government supplies was any of their busi- 
ness, and some of them even are said to have 
looted these supplies. After a rest at Cape Sa- 
bine, the entire party proceeded south to meet the 
Yantic, the supporting vessel. Very little atten- 
tion had been paid to her, as she was slow and ill 
adapted for the ice, and it was thought that she 
probably would never attempt Melville Bay. 
However, she had crossed this and was following 
them well, and the series of misunderstandings 
and misinterpretations of orders which prevented 
the Proteus people going south from meeting the 
Yantic coming north, makes a most remarkable 
story. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 79 

Lieutenant Garlington and his party, being sep- 
arated from the crew of the Proteus for a time, 
crossed over to Littleton Island and left a record 
of the loss of their ship. They then joined the 
others and proceeded to Cape York. It was here 
decided to push on to the Danish settlements as 
they did not think the Y antic would come as far 
north as Cape York. In the meantime, the Y antic 
had passed up to Littleton Island and picked up 
Garlington 's record. She then zigzagged about 
looking for the boats, and passing Cape York on 
her way down without calling, she proceeded to 
Upernavik. As the boats were not there, her cap- 
tain decided to push on home as the season was 
getting late, so sailed to Disco. The boat party 
at Cape York having decided to go south divided. 
Lieutenant Colwell, taking a whale boat and crew, 
struck across Melville Bay, and after a most diffi- 
cult and dangerous passage succeeded in reaching 
Upernavik the day after the Y antic had left. He 
followed her, however, for a week, and overtaking 
her at Disco, brought her back to Upernavik, 
where the balance of the Proteus people had ar- 
rived, and from there they returned to St. John's. 
Now the result of all this had been, in 1882, the 
deposit of ten days' provisions at Littleton Island 
and ten days' provisions at Cape Sabine, the re- 
mainder being brought back. In 1883 the Pro- 
teus had not deposited anything during her life, 
but after her destruction Lieutenant Colwell had 
succeeded in caching at Cape Sabine five hun- 
dred rations or twenty days' supplies saved from 



80 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

the Proteus. The Y antic had been up to Littleton 
Island and back without leaving anything behind. 
Another year had passed and now the rescue of 
Greely became imperative. The affair had been 
handed over to the navy, and Commander Schley 
was taking command. The Dundee ship Thetis 
and the sealer Bear had been bought and added 
to the navy. A collier, the Lough Garry, had been 
chartered to take coal up for the expedition, and 
the Alert, given by the British Government, was 
also going. At the same time a reward was of- 
fered for any whaler picking Greely up. The 
relief ships, except the Alert, were coming to St. 
John's and would sail about the same time as the 
whalers, and as we all knew a good deal about the 
circumstances, we were certainly all deeply inter- 
ested in the outcome. It was generally believed 
among our people that Greely would now be at 
Cape York or Carey Islands, and the Aurora 
stood as good a chance as any other ship of get- 
ting there first. Commander Schley had charge 
of the expedition and would sail on the Thetis, 
while Lieutenant Emory would command the 
Bear, of which ship Lieutenant Colwell would be 
an officer. 
The whalers going to Davis Strait were— 

Arctic Narwhal 

Aurora Nova Zembla 

Cornwallis Polynia 

Esquimaux Triune 

Jan Mayen Wolf of St. John's 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 81 



CHAPTER Vn 

THE BOTTLENOSE FISHING 

" The Arctic sun rose broad above the wave, 
The breeze now sank, now whispered from his cave." 

Newfoundland looked more attractive in April 
than it did when we left. Going about was pleas- 
anter and we saw everything worth seeing in the 
neighborhood of St John's. On board, great 
changes took place. All the sheathing was torn 
off and the ship cleaned inside and out. Her over- 
hauling was complete. The rigging was set up, the 
masts were scraped and oiled and the ship painted. 
The punts were all cleared away and our beautiful 
whale-boats took their place. 

The Aurora was peculiar in having two boats, 
one above the other, on each quarter. We fished 
ten boats altogether, four down each side and two 
upper quarter boats. 

The crew of a whale-boat is six, a harpooner, 
a boat-steerer and four men pulling. The har- 
pooner rows until ordered by the boat-steerer to 
stand by his gun. In the bow the harpoon-gun 
is mounted on a swivel, and fast to the harpoon is 
the " foregoer." This is a very pliable, untarred 
rope, about two and a half inches in circumfer- 
ence and eighteen fathoms long. It is coiled in 



82 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

a tub, sitting on the port bow of the boat, while 
on the starboard side, in a convenient rest, lies 
the hand-harpoon. 

The bollard head, around which a turn of the^ 
line is taken, is an important structure; it stands 
in the bow, beside the gun. Many a boat has gone 
down through the line fouling at the bollard head. 

To the " foregoer " or " foreganger," is at- 
tached the whale line. The term " line " means, 
generally, one rope 120 fathoms long, and there 
are five of these carried in each boat, one and a 
half being stowed amidships and the rest aft. 
They are 2*/2-inch ropes, and tarred. The greatest 
care must be observed in coiling these lines, and 
by the line manager in the boat as the line runs 
out. 

A struck whale generally starts at about seven 
or eight miles an hour. Should the rope, running 
out at this rate, uncoil unevenly, a kink in it 
might foul one of the crew and instantly take him 
down. This has often happened. 

Each boat has several six-foot lances ready for 
use when the whale is exhausted; the idea being, 
to sever with the long sharp lance some of the 
large vessels, thus bleeding the animal to death. 

The oars in a whale-boat work on mats on the 
gunwale, and a thole-pin is used instead of row- 
locks. An arrangement on the oar keeps it from 
slipping through the grummet on the thole-pin, 
when it is let go. The mat is to prevent noise. 
A little piggin is used for bailing the boat, and, 
when hoisted on a boat hook, is the signal for 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 83 

more lines. The shaft of the harpoon is made of 
soft, Swedish iron, so that it can be twisted in 
any conceivable way without breaking. 

A little barrel of bread and cheese is carried in 
each boat and this must not be broached until 
after the boat has been away from the ship a con- 
siderable time; water is also carried. The great 
long steering oar is very important. With it a 
dexterous boat-steerer can do wonders. He can 
sweep the boat around very quickly or can scull 
noiselessly up to a whale when the oars or paddles 
would frighten it away. The steering oar works 
on a pin and mat, as do the others. 

The whale fisher has many incentives. As he 
is generally a man who has to labor for a living, 
and as he is partly paid by the result of his work, 
the capture of a whale means to him a good deal, 
probably several pounds. This stimulates him. 
Again, the sooner he fills the ship, the sooner he 
sails for home. While there is not much chance 
of filling the ship nowadays, the securing of a 
good summer catch probably saves him a weary, 
cold autumn, fishing on the west side. Last, but 
not least, the pursuit of whales is often attended 
with great danger, which is one of the principal 
factors of good sport. The average game hunter 
is not exposed to as great risk as the average 
whaler. 

What danger is there in the pursuit of any 
member of the deer or antelope family, and what 
chance has the animal in these days of high power 
rifles? Sometimes the whale has no chance for 



84 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

its life and the destruction of such a huge crea- 
ture is not exciting, but, generally, there is dan- 
ger, as the history of the industry proves. Hunt- 
ing rhino or buffalo is better sport than hunting 
deer because the former may charge and kill one. 
The whale hunter may be snatched to instant 
death by a foul line, or starved to death in an open 
boat, and these possibilities elevate the sport 
greatly. 

One cannot help sometimes being sorry for the 
animal one has killed, the excitement of the chase 
over and the beast lying dead, especially when only 
the head is wanted, and when everything else 
must be left to spoil. A dead whale means crea- 
ture comforts to many poor people; and I, per- 
sonally, have had more qualms at the escape of a 
wounded buck than I have had over all the whales 
we killed. 

Fishing for bottlenose, the year before (1883), 
the Aurora lost two men, and the Esquimaux lost 
one this year. While we were killing our whales 
off Hudson Straits, he was snatched out of the 
boats and never seen again. A few years before, 
this man's father was lost from the same ship. 

In approaching a black fish, the eye must be 
avoided. Going " eye on " is a serious matter, as 
the whale is not such a fool as it looks, and the 
tremendously powerful tail can smite with terrific 
force. The lifting power of the tail has not 
been much studied; but a chance to observe it 
occurred on the Nova Zembla some time ago when 
the mate got his boat over one. Those who saw 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 85 

the accident say that the tail was lifted without 
any apparent effort, throwing the boat many feet 
up and breaking the bottom out of it. Fortu- 
nately the occupants were spilt out, and fell clear 
of the danger zone, because the fish struck the 
boat again and reduced it to match wood. 

A week after our arrival, the Aurora had been 
pretty well cleaned and greatly changed in ap- 
pearance. A small spruce tree was fastened to 
each masthead, the end of each yard-arm, and to 
the point of the jib-boom. Every one now had an 
easy time until the actual sailing day. Quite a 
number of vessels of all sorts had arrived, as the 
ice had disappeared from the coast; amongst 
them was the Allen steamer Newfoundland, from 
Halifax, bringing us English mail. The Greely 
relief ship \Bear had also come in. 

May 1st. Thursday. The Aurora was receiv- 
ing finishing touches. We were lying at the south 
side but our launch had steam up and took us 
across when we wanted to go. 

May 2. Taking a gun, I went with Dr. Craw- 
ford, of the Arctic, straight up the hill from the 
ship and found on the other side a growth of little 
trees so dense as to be practically impenetrable 
in places. I shot a hare crossing a little open 
place, and saw a splendid big hawk flying about, 
but it never came within shot. Returning with 
the hare, the Captain stopped me just as I was 
going on board. A hare was too unlucky, so I gave 
it to a man on the wharf. Captain Guy was standi 
ing on the Arctic and, seeing this, came on shore 



86 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

and cut the hare's feet off, throwing them on to 
the Aurora; he was ever fond of a joke. The 
most unlucky parts of this unlucky animal in no 
way interfered with our prosperity, however. 

May 3rd. As the Lough Garry had come in I 
went on board. She was an ordinary iron or steel 
steamer of about 1,000 tons and had been chartered 
to take 500 tons of coal north for the relief expedi- 
tion. She was not fortified or specially prepared 
in any way for the work, but still she managed to 
get along very well as far as her services were 
required. Going on board, I encountered the mate, 
who recognized me, he having been the mate of 
the Thetis who had given me the information I 
sought about whaling while in Dundee the autumn 
before. He showed me over the ship and told me 
many interesting facts about a whaling voyage. 

The Esquimaux sailed this day and the Narwhal 
had already gone. The desire to find Greely was 
certainly starting us all north a couple of weeks 
before the usual time. 

May 4th. Sunday. The -Bear sailed. She was 
unlike any other ship going north this year, be- 
cause she had her black funnel forward of the main 
mast and her crow's-nest on the foremast. The 
Arctic had her funnel in the same place, but her 
crow's-nest was on the mainmast. Their rigs also 
differed. These are small matters, but we soon 
could recognize any of the ships a long way off 
by their little peculiarities. During the day I 
went on board the Polynia. She was ready for 
sea and lying in the harbor. Captain Walker, 




Ice Pans 




Greely Relief Ships Thetis and Bear 



IN THE WHALER AUEOBA 87 

who had command of her, was a naturalist and 
sportsman and it was a pleasure meeting him. 
She proceeded north before morning. 

May 5th. Spent some time on board the Arctic. 
She was ready for sea and looked clean and nice 
with her spacious decks and cabins — very unlike 
a whaler. Her lines were graceful, and she had 
powerful engines, but she could not have stood as 
much in ice as the Aurora. Captain Guy told 
me about killing a whale with an old Eskimo 
harpoon buried in its blubber. He gave me this 
interesting souvenir of my voyage and told me 
about Captain McKay of Dundee killing a whale 
in which he found a harpoon with which the fish 
had been struck forty-two years before. This iron 
is now in the Dundee Museum. 

May 6th and 7th. Took my last look at St. 
John's and made my cabin comfortable. I had 
now been in it for three months, so knew exactly 
what was required. 

There does not seem to be any connection be- 
tween a whaler and Florida water; but still I 
venture to say that there was not a sailor on our 
ship who had not from one to half a dozen bot- 
tles of this commodity. Some were for trade with 
the Eskimos and some for their sweethearts at 
home. The Captain had laid in a quantity of 
colored handkerchiefs and such things, which the 
men were permitted to purchase afterwards from 
the slop-chest for purposes of barter. The slop- 
chest was the ship's shop and was superintended 
by the second mate. One could purchase 



88 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

a wonderful lot of useful things from this institu- 
tion. 

May 8th. After breakfast, all being ready, the 
Aurora sailed for the whale fishing. In Scotland, 
a fish means a salmon, but in Greenland, a black 
whale is always spoken of as a fish, never any- 
thing else. We sailed out of the narrows and 
turned north. It was blowing a little from the 
southeast, so there was some swell. We got square 
sails on the ship presently, and with this breeze 
on her quarter, made good time, the engines going 
full speed. 

Our intention was to try the bottlenose whale 
fishing off Resolution Island at the mouth of 
Hudson's Straits, for a few days, then go over to 
the Greenland side and follow the usual route. 
As there were many bergs coming down and 
quantities of field ice at this season, we kept 
rather well away from the coast, along which it 
came. At night the canvas was taken off the ship 
and a bright lookout kept for ice. For the next 
three days we steered north. The weather was 
fine and the sea smooth. Going up the Labrador 
coast, we saw some heavy floes, but kept well to 
the east of them and did not sight land. We did 
not see anything of interest, so it was rather 
monotonous. 

May 12th. It was a lovely morning when I 
came on deck, with the wind from the southeast. 
We had our fore and afters set and were steaming 
full speed. Astern of us was the Nova Zembla 
and we were towing her, an act of brotherly love. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 89 

I had seen the ship in Dundee and was struck by 
her beauty. She and the Jan Mayen were very 
handsome little ships, and she looked far better at 
sea than in dock. We towed her part of the day. 
During the afternoon, the wind died down and the 
evening was beautiful; not a breath of air, but 
some swell rolling in from the southeast and the 
surface of the sea like glass. The people to-day 
were employed coiling lines in boats and arranging 
fishing gear as we might see the bottlenose whales 
any time. 

May 13th. A beautiful calm day. The men 
were getting ready the whale-boats and filling 
the bunkers. We were well off Cape Chidley, 
the northeast corner of Labrador, in the morn- 
ing. In the evening a school of bottlenose whales 
was seen, and six boats were lowered away. Two 
of the boats immediately filled as they had been 
out of the water so long, but the others pulled 
after the whales. I was oh the bridge watch- 
ing the sport. It was splendid. The ship and 
boats rising and falling on a rather heavy swell, 
the surface of the water like oil, the boats freshly 
painted, and the harpoons glistening in the sun, 
presented an interesting picture of the sea; while 
the school of very lively little whales rolling about 
like porpoises and then disappearing, to come up 
suddenly, gave it animation. 

The boats had several shots, but they were quick 
and difficult. One, however, was captured by 
Alex. McKechnie, the second mate, and after a 
short play, killed and brought alongside. This 



90 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

beast (Hyperoodon Rostratus, or the northern 
sperm whale) is small, but of remarkable appear- 
ance, having a long round beak, which protrudes 
from the lower part of its large head. Its oil is 
very good; that flowing from the cancellous bones 
of the head solidifying on deck at a comparatively 
high temperature, and when solid, looking like 
spermaceti. Many of the men took bottles full 
of this oil for use in future sprains and bruises. 
Late in the evening another whale was killed by 
Thors, and, from the numbers we saw around, 
there was no reason why the Aurora should not 
have picked up a profitable cargo in this neigh- 
borhood, but the desire for the valuable whalebone 
took us to the north. 

May 14th. We were off Frobisher's Bay and 
after the little whales again, and another was cap- 
tured. I was not in the boats at all at this fish- 
ing, as the movement of the whales was so fast 
that they capsized boats frequently and only ex- 
perienced oarsmen were wanted. I was told that 
more men lost their lives at this than at the right 
whale fishing. We learned afterwards that the 
Nova Zembla picked up seven here, while the Arc- 
tic bagged seventeen. The whale killed in the 
morning by McLean was over twenty feet long. 
The other two were smaller. The heads were 
brought on board so I had a good look at them. 

I saw white stalactites of spermaceti hanging 
from them to stalagmite incrustations of the same 
on deck, and I noticed that the oil was free from 
smell. 




Captain Guy of the "Arctic 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 91 

The neighborhood of Resolution Island was 
notorious for its awful currents, and the rise and 
fall of tide about the western end of Hudson 
Straits made navigation on these comparatively 
uncharted waters exceedingly dangerous. 

I once heard Captain Guy tell of a narrow es- 
cape he had in the neighborhood of the upper Sav- 
age Islands. From the barrel, he saw a rock 
ahead, and ordered the lead cast. Three fathoms 
was found, so he backed off and anchored. In a 
few hours he was astonished to find an island 
where the submerged rock had been, and he after- 
wards learned from a reliable source that the rise 
and fall of tide at this place was over forty feet. 
Caribou were abundant on the north coast of 
the straits, and musk-ox were also found. Some- 
times whalers coming down for the southwest 
fishing, in the autumn, killed numbers of both. 
The caribou was the barren land variety, and 
some of the heads were enormous. In this species 
the beam was long and straggly, and the palma- 
tion was not very pronounced. 



92 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE CHIEFTAIN DISASTER 

" We have fed our sea for a thousand years, 
And she calls us, still unfed, 
Though there is never a wave of all our waves 
But marks our English dead." 

— Kipling. 

It may be of interest to recount here the story 
of the Chieftain's mishap, which was the worst 
accident of the year. 

The Chieftain was one of the Dundee whaling 
fleet. When we left she was fitting out for the 
Greenland sealing and bottlenose whaling. 

Leaving Dundee on March 6th, under the com- 
mand of Captain Gellatley, she lost four of her 
boats, on May 26th, in a fog. 

These made their way to Iceland. One, in 
charge of the captain, landed at Brimness. A 
second, in charge of Alex. Bain, a harpooner, ar- 
rived at Tonsberg, having lost overboard her boat- 
steerer, David Buchan. A third landed at Ram- 
farhofu with all alive. The fourth was picked up, 
and in her there was but one survivor. When 
this boat left the ship there were three men in 
her. One died and was duly committed to the 
deep ; another fell into a lethargy which continued 
so long that Mcintosh, the survivor, though hardly 
able to move his benumbed legs, crawled to the 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 93 

bow of the boat to find out what was the trouble, 
but found him dead. 

Fearing lest he might yield to the temptation 
of using the body for food, by a great effort he 
succeeded in heaving it overboard. The boat was 
picked up on the fourteenth day off the Iceland 
coast by a passing ship; but Mcintosh was com- 
pelled to have both legs amputated as mortification 
had set in. It is terrible to think of what this brave 
fellow must have endured drifting about in a small 
boat over this lonely and stormy sea, half frozen 
and with hardly any food. 

The following is the account given by Captain 
Gellatley of the cause of the accident, and of his 
experiences during the awful trip to Iceland. 

A school of whales was observed on Monday, 
26th of May, and the afternoon being fine, four 
boats went out in pursuit— one under the com- 
mand of Captain Gellatley; the second under the 
charge of Thomas Elder, the second mate; John 
Taylor, specksioneer, was in charge of the third; 
and Alexander Bain, harpooner, of the fourth. 

In the course of a short time the captain's boat 
got fast to a whale, and also the specksioneer J s. 
The second mate assisted the captain. After 
some time the whale was killed and towed to the 
ship, which was reached about three o'clock in 
the morning. By this time a dense fog had settled 
down, and after his crew had breakfasted, Cap- 
tain Gellatley set out to look for the three boats, 
giving directions that if the fog continued the 
vessel should be kept in her position, so as to 



94 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

enable them to find her; but that she was to bear 
down towards the boats if the mist lifted. Know- 
ing the bearings of the boats, Captain Gellatley 
came up to them after rowing for fully two hours, 
and found that the whale was still alive and caus- 
ing great trouble. Three additional harpoons 
were fired into it, and in the course of the fore- 
noon it was killed, and the four boats started in 
the direction of the ship with the whale in tow. 
In the meantime the weather cleared, and the 
ship was descried at a distance of about five miles; 
but in the course of half an hour the fog again 
came down, and it was so dense that it was impos- 
sible to see more than a few yards ahead. Though 
they pulled from half past ten o'clock in the fore- 
noon until half past four in the afternoon they 
failed to find the Chieftain, and no answering sig- 
nals were returned to their blasts of fog horns. 
It was then resolved that one of the boats should 
proceed eastwards and another westwards for 
some distance, but they returned without having 
been able to discover the whereabouts of the ship, 
notwithstanding the most diligent search. At one 
time a sound like a whistle was heard in one direc- 
tion and again in another, and the men got utterly 
fatigued by their protracted search, a fresh breeze 
springing up and adding to their discomfort. 
About eight o'clock in the evening a number of 
the men confidently declared that they heard a 
ship's whistle sounding in a northeasterly direc- 
tion, and the second mate was sent away in the 
hope of finding the ship. Some time later Cap- 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 95 

tain Gellatley decided to follow in the same direc- 
tion, and accordingly the whale was buoyed and 
a lance with a handkerchief tied to the end of the 
handle was stuck into the carcass for identifica- 
tion. The three boats then followed in the course 
taken by the second mate, but they could never 
catch up to him, though they repeatedly heard 
the blast of his fog horn. Throughout the night 
the search was continued without success, and on 
the morning of the 28th, the crews being fatigued, 
the three boats were made fast to one another 
and a deep sea anchor thrown out for the purpose 
of stopping their way and allowing the men to 
rest. In the course of the morning James Cairns, 
an ordinary seaman, accidentally fell overboard, 
but he was promptly rescued. On the 28th mat- 
ters began to assume a serious aspect. The crews 
had then been two days absent from the ship, and 
their slender stock of food— a small keg of provi- 
sions and a six pound tin of preserved meat in each 
boat— had become exhausted. In consequence of 
their privations the men became affected with 
stupor, and with the view of dispelling this the 
captain ordered the anchor to be hauled in and 
the boats to be rowed towards the ice. This exer- 
cise had a beneficial effect, and it seemed as if it 
were to result in a happy rescue, for a barque was 
noticed sailing away to the windward. Signals 
were made in the hope of attracting attention, 
but the crews were doomed to disappointment, the 
fog, which had temporarily cleared, having again 
fallen and obscured everything from sight. The 



96 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

weather, too, became boisterous, and the boats 
were in imminent danger of being crushed by the 
ice. To save the boats from destruction it was 
found necessary to row out from under the lee of 
the floes, and during this time Captain Gellatley 
narrowly escaped being drowned. Whale-boats 
are all steered by an oar, and while the captain 
was steering, his oar was struck by a wave and 
he was knocked overboard. Fortunately he was 
rescued before he had been long in the water, but 
he suffered much from having to remain in his 
wet clothes during the remainder of the time he 
was in the boat. All the men were by this time 
complaining of the benumbed condition of their 
hands and feet, and by the morning of Friday, 
30th, it was hardly possible to keep them awake. 
That morning the wind shifted to the westward, 
and as all hope of falling in with the Chieftain 
had been given up, it was decided, as the only 
chance of saving their lives, to endeavor to sail 
to Iceland, which was calculated to be about two 
hundred miles distant. Each of the boats pos- 
sessed a compass, but there was neither mast nor 
sail, and in their place a couple of boat-hooks were 
erected by way of a mast, with the ramrod of the 
gun as a yard, and the line cover, a piece of can- 
vas about five feet by three feet, had to do duty 
as a sail. Thus equipped, and with a supply of 
frozen snow and pieces of ice to quench their 
thirst, the crews of the three boats set out on their 
perilous journey, the master giving the direc- 
tions for steering. They left the ice about five 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 97 

o'clock in the morning, and were soon scudding 
along at a rapid rate, there being a strong breeze 
blowing. About eight o'clock the boat which was 
in advance was seen to shorten sail, and when 
the captain came up he was informed that David 
Buchan, while steering, had been knocked over- 
board and drowned. An attempt was then made 
to tow this boat; but the sea was running so high 
that this jeopardized both. It soon became ap- 
parent that the boats would be swamped if they 
continued in tow, and the captain was obliged 
to cast the second one adrift, telling the crew they 
must either hoist sails and make for Iceland along 
with him or run back for the ice. They preferred 
to hold on their course, and the sail was again 
hoisted. The weather continued moderate until 
between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, 
when it shifted to the northward and began to 
blow hard. A heavy sea arose, and through the 
night it was with the utmost difficulty that the 
captain kept his boat afloat. At times she was 
nearly filled, and the men had to keep almost 
constantly bailing out the water. The stormy 
weather continued throughout the whole of Fri- 
day night and Saturday, and it was found neces- 
sary to throw the whale lines overboard to lighten 
the boat. In the meantime the condition of the 
men was becoming more and more alarming, and 
the captain was forced to employ various devices 
to prevent them from falling into a state of 
stupor, which would soon have proved fatal. To 
use the oars was an impossibility on account of 



98 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

the heavy seas and the rate at which the boat was 
sailing, and accordingly the captain persuaded 
the men to hold up their oars by way of exercise. 
This had the desired effect for some time, but by 
Sunday morning, the fourth day they had been 
without food, they were all ready to give up in 
despair. Captain Gellatley had been steering con- 
stantly from Friday morning till Sunday morn- 
ing, and the fatigue, combined with the privations 
he endured in common with his crew, began to 
tell severely upon him. Only those who have had 
to steer such a boat in a seaway can understand 
the irksome and laborious nature of the work, 
and to this must be added the fact that he had to 
sit in a cramped position the whole time, his legs 
being bent under him. The captain stated that 
a peculiar sensation came over him, a haze gath- 
ered before his eyes, and an attack of dizziness 
obliged him to call the boatswain to take his place. 
After a brief space the boatswain, who was almost 
prostrated, had to relinquish the task, and the 
boat was then hove to, and a deep sea anchor, 
made up of a grappling iron and other articles, was 
thrown out, with fifty fathoms of line, by which 
means the boat's head was kept towards the sea. 
The weather was then moderating, but the waves 
continued to break over the boat, and it was as 
much as the men could do to keep her afloat. A 
few hours later and the gale sprang up afresh, 
and as there were still no signs of land, the crew 
resigned themselves to the fate which they 
deemed to be inevitable. From this state of de- 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 99 

spair they were ultimately aroused by the news 
that the land and a schooner were in sight, the 
sailmaker being the first to make the joyful an- 
nouncement. This intelligence reanimated the 
despairing men, and signals were made to the 
schooner, but without succeeding in attracting the 
attention of the crew. A direct course was then 
steered for the land, but owing to the gale ten 
hours elapsed before it was reached. A new dif- 
ficulty was then encountered, there being no vis- 
ible landing-place along that rock-bound coast. 
A number of the islanders, however, had noticed 
the boat, and by means of signs they directed the 
crew to steer for the only available landing-place, 
a narrow passage with perpendicular rocks on 
either side, and a horizontal rock forming a sort 
of bar. The tide was then ebbing, but under the 
guidance of Captain Gellatley, the boat was safely 
steered into the narrow harbor. By the assist- 
ance of the islanders the crew, who had almost 
lost the power of their legs, were take to a farm- 
er's hut adjoining, where they were hospitably 
entertained with such cheer as the house afforded; 
and the black bread and whale blubber which 
were set out before them proved a feast to the 
famishing sailors. The point at which they 
landed was Brimness, about ten miles distant 
from Langanaes, and after they had recovered 
somewhat the islanders made arrangements for 
transporting them on horseback to the nearest 
port. However, the Norwegian smack, Jemima, 
of Flekkefjord, hove in sight, and on being sig- 



100 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

nailed, the captain, Bernard Olsen, readily agreed 
to take the crew to Seydisfjord, where a steamer 
was shortly to sail for Scotland. On their arrival 
at Seydisfjord on the 8th of June, the governor 
had them conveyed to a hotel, and a messenger 
was dispatched for a doctor, who arrived in the 
course of two days, his journey requiring twenty- 
four hours to accomplish. Under his treatment 
Captain Gellatley and his crew made a satisfactory 
recovery, and on the 12th they left Seydisfjord on 
board the mail steamer Thyra, for Granton. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 101 



CHAPTER IX 

A GREENLAND SETTLEMENT 

" The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone 
Boldly proclaims the happiest spot his own; 
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, 
And his long nights of revelry and ease." 

We were now crossing Davis Straits and felt 
that the whaling voyage had fairly begun. Ref- 
erence was seldom made to the places already 
visited, but those we expected to see were dis- 
cussed, and stories told of previous experiences 
there. Nothing was spoken of but Greenland and 
its settlements. 

The weather was very cold and on Thursday, 
May 15th, snow squalls reminded us of our lati- 
tude. The wind was fair, however, and the ship 
made good time under steam and some canvas. 

Friday, May 16th. The morning was fine and 
the men of the watch were employed coaling the 
bunkers; coal dust was thick in the 'tween-decks 
and the tarts we had for tea were black with it 
as the galley opened off the 'tween-decks. In spite 
of their color, however, they were better tarts 
than any I ever tasted on shore. 

As we expected to be on the Greenland coast 
the following day, a few remarks about the coun- 
try may not be out of place. 



102 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

The west coast settlements had prospered under 
the fostering care of the Moravian missionaries 
and the Danish Government and were divided 
into two districts, the northern and the southern, 
Holstenborg, to which we were bound, being the 
northern settlement of the southern district. The 
most northern settlements of the northern dis- 
trict had native governors, but the southern had 
Danish, and inspectors supervised the work of 
these. 

One or two ships from Copenhagen visited the 
coast every year with supplies, taking back oil 
and skins. 

We have all sung about the icy mountains of 
Greenland, and most of us have in a vague way 
connected the country with whales, without hav- 
ing any idea of how great this whaling industry 
was some years ago. In the appendix it will be 
seen that Great Britain alone sent one hundred 
and fifty-nine ships to Greenland waters in 1819, 
and, of course, the Norwegians and Dutch, the 
Danes, Germans and others also profited by the 
fisheries. Many words in the modern whaler's 
vocabulary are of Dutch origin, as these hardy 
people were conspicuous among the most daring 
followers of this dangerous trade. 

Greenland has a past, but its history, viewed 
through the mists of centuries, and always more 
or less traditional, is anything but distinct. 

The country was discovered toward the end of 
the tenth century; and a banished Norwegian, 
called Erick, wintered at what is now called Erick 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 103 

Sound, shortly after. The unscrupulous Erick, in 
order to promote colonization, called the new 
country Greenland. A fleet of twenty-five sail 
started for the country with colonists. Many were 
lost, but about half of them settled there and were 
joined by others, forming quite a colony. 

Christianity was introduced about 1121 and a 
bishop was appointed. By degrees the colonists 
in the south formed other colonies, churches were 
built, and the people prospered for a time. 

Grant tells us in his history of Greenland that 
there were about one hundred hamlets on these 
coasts. The colonies on the east coast have dis- 
appeared. Some ruins have been found, but where 
are the people? Nothing has been heard definitely 
from them since 1408, when the east Greenland 
trade ceased. Some think that black death des- 
troyed them, others say that polar ice, coming 
down, closed the coast from intercourse with the 
parent country, so that they starved. According 
to one Kojake, who has written on the subject, 
they became eaters of human flesh, owing to a 
famine, but afterwards they are said to have 
relished it. That they were nice about it is evi- 
dent when we read that they only consumed old 
people, forsaken orphans and unnecessary per- 
sons. A rumor reached Norway in 1718 about a 
vessel having been wrecked off the coast of 
Greenland and of the crew having been eaten 
voraciously by savages. The word voracious 
suggests relish, and possibly these savages were 
descendants from the good, old Norwegian stock, 



104 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

who ate unnecessary persons only a few hundred 
years before and who had a bishop in 1121. 

May 17th. Saturday. We expected to sight 
the land, so were on the lookout. The weather 
was cloudy and there was a southeast breeze, so 
everything was set and drawing. The clouds 
lifted about noon and in the distance the snow- 
covered mountains of Greenland could be seen. 
At first it was difficult to tell which was moun- 
tain and which cloud. By and by, however, the 
forbidding coast grew distinct. 

Our objective point was Holstenborg and the 
mate was in the crow's-nest examining the shore 
for the Danish colors. Some small bergs were 
scattered over the water and a narrow shore floe 
was fast to the coast. 

To the north of us the Knights Reefs ran far 
out to sea and on these some larger bergs had 
grounded. The ship was slowed down and all her 
canvas stowed. Finally the engines were stopped, 
and after a little while, the captain ordered the 
ship put about as he could not pick up the settle- 
ment. I heard the order given and was greatly 
disappointed as I longed to see an Eskimo. 

Just then the mate called out that he saw a 
kayak coming off, so the ship lay to and waited. I 
repaired to the fore top and presently saw two 
kayaks coming toward us. There was quite a 
splash on, but the sun had now come out and the 
scene interested me intensely. 

The little boats were almost submerged and the 
occupants were wet and glistened in the sunlight. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 105 

When they came alongside, I saw that the kayaks 
were about 15 feet long, with little knobs of ivory 
decorating bow and stern, and were about 18 
inches wide at the widest part and covered with 
skin. 

One Eskimo sat in each. The edge of the hole 
in which he sat was raised a couple of inches 
and over this he had pulled his skin coat, wrapped 
a lash around it and made it water-tight. The 
paddle was trimmed with ivory and the dusky 
faces of the almond-eyed navigators were all 
smiles as they looked at us and showed their 
white teeth. A whale boat was lowered and each 
canoe lifted in, Eskimo and all, then they left their 
boats, shook hands with every one around and 
went on to the bridge, where they remained until 
the ship was at anchor off the village. 

Holstenborg consisted of a church, which was 
also a schoolhouse, a shop where the deputy gov- 
ernor lived, and the governor's house. There were 
a number of native houses— awful places, built of 
turf. A long low passage led to the door of each. 
As the weather was comparatively warm, this 
passage was generally very wet, and when the 
door of the house opened, the smell was overpow- 
ering. Inside sat women at work with their 
needles, or dressing skins. When the ship came 
to anchor off the shore floe, a boat-load of ladies 
came on board. A Greenland belle was a well 
dressed person. Her hair was folded several 
times and then wound about with a ribbon, so 
that it stood up upon the top of the head; the fold 



106 A VOYAGE TO THE ABCTIC 

of the hair above the ribbon was rather fan- 
shaped, and the color of the ribbon indicated 
whether the lady was married, single, or a widow. 
Possibly there were degrees of wrapping, and 
shades of the color, indicating the number of 
times she had been married, and the depths of 
despair into which her various bereavements had 
reduced her. This simple record of her past was 
an excellent arrangement in . a country where 
there were no society papers, — a sort of personal 
totem carried on the head, so that he or she who 
ran might read. Of course, in lower latitudes, 
where high civilization and divorce courts exist, 
shortness of hair would render some records so 
incomplete that the Greenland method is never 
likely to supplant the present ready references to 
be found amongst interested and observing neigh- 
bors. A bodice was worn, made of some cheerful 
colored stuff procured at the shop or from 
whalers. Tight fitting trousers, made of bay seal 
skin and extending down to the knees, came next, 
and very gaudy boots of colored skin. Down the 
front of each leg of the trousers was a stripe 1% 
inches wide, of colored skin, and the boots, espe- 
cially around the tops, were very ornate. Many of 
the girls were good-looking, and on their arrival 
a ball commenced in the 'tween-decks which lasted 
while they were there; fiddles and concertinas 
supplying the music. These instruments were 
played by whalers and Eskimos equally well, and 
they knew the same airs. Most of our visitors 
had articles to barter and they wanted bread 




Underwood. 



Cape York Esquimaux 



W THE WHALER AURORA 107 

in return more than anything else, but accepted 
colored handkerchiefs and other trifles. 

Slippers and tobacco pouches were their prin- 
cipal stock in trade, but there were some down 
quilts, prettily bordered with the green necks of 
the eider duck. Captain Fairweather and myself 
spent a pleasant evening with the governor and 
his deputy, and it was interesting to hear the 
music of civilization played on a piano by the 
wife of the latter. 

Coming away, they gave us a lot of quaint 
ivories made by the natives, from walrus tusks, 
such as brooches, pipes, paper knives, etc., etc. 

May 18th. Sunday. I went on shore early, and 
seeing a lot of snow buntings, spent some time 
looking for their nests, but without result. On 
the sunny sides of the rocks the snow had gone; 
there was some dead grass, but indeed the country 
was, for the most part, covered with it. There 
were several pairs of ravens about, but I could 
not find their nests, so I borrowed a pair of skies, 
and ascending a hill close by, enjoyed the ex- 
hilarating sport of sliding down its snowy slope. 
During the afternoon I made a house-to-house 
visitation in the native quarter and saw much of 
interest. The older portion of the population I 
found at home, but the youth and beauty of the 
place had gone on board the Aurora. About din- 
ner time I came on board and acquired a fur- 
ther collection of Eskimo ware, including ladies' 
clothing, for which even my bed curtains were 
bartered. It was late when I retired for the 



108 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

night, surfeited with the pleasure of my first long 
day in Greenland. 

May 19th. Monday. I wrote letters home this 
morning and sent them on shore. During the 
summer they arrived via Copenhagen, having 
gone by the Danish mail ship which visited the 
settlement every year. 

By breakfast time we were under way. It was 
a beautiful day. There was a breeze from the 
southwest, so the ship soon had all her canvas set 
and we stood away, clear of the land. 

The Knights Reef, running out to sea north of 
Holstenborg, had to be weathered. On the heavy 
ice around there, we saw a number of walrus, but 
did not disturb them. By noon we were sailing 
up the coast amid floe ice, so the canvas was taken 
off and we steamed slowly through it. A sharp 
lookout was kept for whales, as we were then on 
a very good ground for spring fishing, sixty miles 
from Disco and sixty miles from Riffkol being the 
neighborhood where the ships in olden times killed 
fine cargoes. 

" With Riffkol hill and Disco Dipping, 
There you will find the whale fish skipping," 

is an old saying amongst whalers. 




Esquimaux Kyaks 




Disco 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 109 



CHAPTER X 

POLAR BEAR SHOOTING 

" The shapeless bear 
With dangling ice, all horrid, stalks forlorn, 
Slow paced, and sourer as the storms increase, 
He makes his bed beneath the inclement drift, 
And with stern patience, scorning weak complaint, 
Hardens his heart against the assailing want." 

May 20th. Tuesday. We were quite close to 
Disco in the morning. However, the Captain de- 
cided not to go into the settlement, G-odhaven, 
where many other ships lay, but to go west, as 
the straits appeared tolerably free from ice in 
that direction. Accordingly, about noon, we 
turned our bows westward, having a solid look- 
ing floe to the north of us and open water to the 
south. This was all good fishing ground and we 
might have picked up a big whale, but we did not 
see a single spout while we were in the neighbor- 
hood. 

Birds were getting numerous, now that we were 
amongst the ice, and the edge of the floe was lined 
with little auks in some places. They were im- 
portant-looking fellows, like diminutive penguins. 

Disco looked wild and forbidding as we steamed 
away from it, with snow lodged in all the shel- 
tered places. 



110 A VOYAGE TO THE AECTIC 

The island rose to a height of about three thou- 
sand feet and much of the coast on the west side 
of it was precipitous and exposed, so that there 
were always bare rock faces, which gave a patchy 
appearance to that place. 

To the north of us, many big bergs could be 
seen, which had come originally from Waggate 
Straits. Two tremendous ones were at one time 
aground in this place, in very deep water. They 
were described by Crants, who tells us that they 
were there for years. 

We had steamed for some distance to the west, 
along the floe edge, when the lookout called down 
that he saw a bear on an island of ice, a few points 
on our starboard bow. I heard him, so immedi- 
ately went for my rifle. A boat was lowered and 
we rowed to the island. George Matheson, one of 
our harpooners, and myself immediately landed, 
and the boat left us, intending to row around the 
island so as to intercept bruin, should he attempt 
to swim to the main floe. 

As this was the first wild bear I had ever seen, 
I was unfamiliar with their ways, but learned 
afterwards that unless the hunter came suddenly 
upon one, or unless it had cubs, it would almost 
invariably retreat and probably take to the water. 
Of course, it might not know the whereabouts of 
the hunter, and in that case it would be as liable 
to go in his direction as any other. 

This particular animal was an exception to all 
rules; for before we had gone very far we found 
that he was coming straight toward us. Owing 




George Matheson 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 111 

to the nature of the ice, he could not always be 
seen, but occasionally he would stand up and take 
his bearings, when we could see each other. I 
was an active youth, George was a heavy man in 
excellent condition, and if it came to running, he 
would have had no chance with me, and no sensible 
bear would pass him to pursue me. Realizing 
these things, I had no misgivings, so knelt down 
and put out a box of ten cartridges. The har- 
pooner, seeing my preparations, said: " For God's 
sake, don't shoot." He had had experiences with 
wounded bears before, which he did not wish to 
repeat. It seemed to me, however, that, between 
the two of us, we had things our own way as we 
had had such splendid practice at seals a short 
time before and our hands were in, so, when bruin 
stood up to have a look at us, less than a hundred 
yards away, I fired and hit him in the head. 

I was intensely pleased as it was my first bear 
and also the first seen that year by any of the 
ships. 

We had, as spectators, the entire crew, as the 
ship was not far away and every one on board was 
watching. A bear is considered lucky, consider- 
able trouble being taken to pick one up. As they 
looked very yellow in the white ice, they were 
easily seen. Curiosity, no doubt, drew this one 
to us, as we were kneeling down and not moving 
when he stood up to look. Had we moved, he 
would probably have gone away. I kept the 
skull, the entire occipital portion of which was 
shattered, although the skin wound was small, as 



112 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

the copper-nosed bullets only expanded well on 
striking something hard. 

The boat came back for us and, after skinning 
the prize, we went on board. As there was much 
heavy ice to the west, we steamed back towards 
Disco, and a lead, opening to the north, later in the 
day, gave us a chance of going a few miles in the 
right direction. 

May 21st. Wednesday. We had come rather 
close to the land by morning and were off Disco 
Fiord. There was very heavy ice coming down 
and numbers of bergs about, so navigation was 
exceedingly difficult and dangerous, and we made 
little or no progress until noon, when the ice 
slackened and let us go ahead, the wind blowing 
from the north and loosening it. In the evening 
it was very cold, with snow squalls. 

I got an ivory gull this day (P. Eburnea) and 
also a glaucous gull (Larus Glaucus). The ivory 
gull positively looked like ivory as it stood on the 
ice, and the glaucous gull, with its great spread 
of snow-white wings, was beautiful. 

We were sorry that the ship did not stop at 
Godhaven, or Lieveley, as it was generally called, 
because of its importance as a point of departure 
for expeditions. They generally obtained dogs 
there, and whalers, for a century and more, had 
made it a port to call, but this was a race for the 
north and no time was to be wasted. We man- 
aged to work on our course all afternoon and dur- 
ing the night, as the wind had slackened the ice. 

May 22nd. Thursday. During the night, the 



EST THE WHALER AURORA 113 

ship had made considerable progress, so at noon 
we were off Hare Island. After tea, we were 
hooked on in a pool of water for several hours. 
I took my gun and went out for a stroll, killing a 
number of little auks (Alca Alle or Roach) and 
a Richardson's skua. These latter were called, by 
the sailors, boatswain birds, because of the long 
feathers in the tail, resembling a marlinspike. 

As at this time we had the sun night and day, 
it made me exceedingly restless. About ten P. M. 
we were fast again, so, taking my gun, I shot 
some black guillemot (U. Grylle), these birds be- 
ing very numerous. I returned to the ship about 
midnight, when it was blowing rather hard. 

May 23rd. Friday. The wind had died down 
by morning and the day was beautiful. We were 
off Nugsuak Peninsula. There were many tre- 
mendous bergs about and the floe was heavy. In 
the dim distance we saw a ship and made our way 
towards her. To the east of us was the entrance 
to TTmanak Fiord, one of the largest on the west 
coast of Greenland. From where we were, all 
fiords looked alike, and it was impossible to tell 
islands from mainland. It resembled a sea of 
ice out of which protruded rocks and hills, which, 
excepting on the steep places, were covered with 
snow. 

Black guillemot and little auks were every- 
where in thousands, and it was pretty to see rows 
of the latter along the ice edge. They stood 
shoulder to shoulder, facing the water, and were 
very indifferent to our presence. 



114 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

By night we had made little progress and the 
new ship was still far away. We had been about 
with the whalers enough by this time to recognize 
any of them a long way off by their rigging, 
smoke or funnel, so, long before we reached this 
new vessel, we recognized that she was a stranger, 
and she turned out to be the Comwallis. When 
we left Dundee, she was outfitting for the Green- 
land fishing, that is, for the voyage we ourselves 
originally intended taking, after leaving New- 
foundland. 

The high price of whalebone, however, had in- 
duced her owners to send her to Davis Straits 
instead. By tea time we were hooked on within- 
a quarter of a mile of her, and after that meal the 
Captain sent me on board to see whether there 
was any mail for our ship. Climbing on board, 
I was amazed to find my friend Armitage there, 
with a yellow beard and sea boots; I would not 
have recognized him. He was greatly surprised 
to see me because he believed that I had gone 
from Newfoundland to the Jan Mayen fishing, not 
knowing of our altered arrangements. The Com- 
wallis was an old barque, formerly in the South 
American trade. She had had engines put in, and 
been fortified for Arctic ice. After I sailed from 
Dundee, Armitage, in going around the docks, 
saw her. He went on board and, finding Captain 
Nicol, arranged to sail with him later in the year. 

Sending back to the Aurora mail and papers, 
also some fresh mutton, which had been sent out 
to us, I remained on the Comwallis and heard 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 115 

the news. I saw her peculiar and useless engines. 
Captain Nicol said they spoilt her for sailing and 
she steamed badly. 

May 24th. Saturday. It was a beautiful Arctic 
day when I came on deck before breakfast. 
Ahead of us, the world was white, not a break to 
be seen anywhere, astern some open water. The 
Cornwallis was lying on our port side a few hun- 
dred yards away, so that about eleven I went on 
board, and, with Armitage, started off: to look for 
something to shoot, among the hummocks, three 
or four miles north of where we lay. We spent 
hours tramping over the ice, but did not see a 
track, so we returned to our ships about six P. M. 
This hummock belt extended east and west and 
had been caused by the rafting of great floes. It 
was quite smooth from the ship to the hummocks 
and also on the other side of them. Half a mile 
beyond the ridge, however, there was a great berg 
which appeared to be aground. 

When I returned on board the Aurora, the Cap- 
tain told me to go below and have my tea and then 
to go with the mate back to where I had been, be- 
cause he had seen a bear close to us all the time 
we were there. It certainly was curious that 
neither of us had seen him or his tracks. When 
we were about a mile away from the ships, I saw 
Armitage hurrying after us. I was anxious to 
wait for him, but the mate insisted on pushing on, 
as it would be a fearfully unlucky thing for a 
member of another crew to shoot a bear first seen 
by us. After a little, we reached a crack in the 



116 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

ice, about two feet wide, so we stepped across and 
hurried on. Armitage, coming up shortly after, 
was unable to cross as the crack was then eight 
or ten feet wide and extended indefinitely in each 
direction. So the situation righted itself, and my 
friend returned to the ship while the mate and I 
kept on to where the bear had been seen and there 
we found tracks in abundance, but no bear. After 
an hour's searching, we were returning to the 
ship when we saw her jib hauled up as a signal for 
us to go ahead again, the game having been 
spotted by the lookout in the crow's nest. Return- 
ing to the hummocks, we saw the bear strolling 
from behind the berg beyond. He was coming 
straight towards us, so we got down behind the 
rafted ice and awaited his approach. It was de- 
cided that I should have the first shot as the mate 
had killed so many. I allowed the bear to get 
about a hundred and fifty yards away before 
firing, and then put a bullet into him. I don't 
know where it hit, but he came down, to be up 
again at once and to keep on coming. The mate 
fired and down he went again, and we kept it up 
until the bear was hit many times. Sometimes 
he fell, sometimes he bit at the place, and by the 
time he reached the ridge he was very lame and 
badly shot up. He had gone some distance to the 
west of us, so I stood up on a slab of ice and fin- 
ished him, as we thought, by putting a bullet in 
his shoulder and dropping him in his tracks. We 
hurried up our side of the ridge until we arrived 
at where he was. Then, climbing over, I was sur- 




Valentine. 



Polar Bear 



IN TELE WHALER AURORA 117 

prised to find him sitting up. This time my bullet 
finished him. Our shooting was nothing to be 
proud of, and went to show how careful one should 
be with bears, because if not hit right, they take 
a lot of lead. This was about the only one of those 
killed that took more than one or, at the most, two 
shots. As neither of us had a hunting knife, we 
had a long job skinning him with pocket knives. 
Then we started for the ship, towing the skin, but 
when we reached the crack in the ice, it had 
opened about twenty-five yards, so we were fairly 
caught. The mate, with his usual ingenuity, 
loosened a pan of ice, and on this we crossed, using 
the butts of our rifles as paddles. Arriving at the 
other side, we were met by two sailors, sent from 
the ship, as we were being watched from the bar- 
rel, and they took the bear skin in charge while 
we made our way on board. As it was late, we re- 
tired as soon as we had had something to eat. 

May 25th. . Sunday. In the morning, Armitage 
came on board and saw the bear skin. He had 
never seen a polar bear on the ice, so was very 
much disappointed that he had not been with us. 

Both ships unhooked about ten A. M. and stood 
north through a lead. We moved along fairly well 
and by evening were hooked on close to each other 
in a hole of water with a good ice edge. 

The \Bear and Triune were now in sight, the 
latter having come from Dundee direct. We were 
off Svartin Huk, a great peninsula, but I only 
knew this by consulting the chart glued* to the 
cabin table. 



118 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

The Comwallis was the " lame duck " of the 
fleet. Steaming in open water, she had not more 
than half our speed, and in heavy ice she could do 
little, as her power was so weak. Of course, she 
could wriggle her way around floes and along tor- 
tuous leads fairly well, especially if some of the 
better ships had just been through ahead of her 
and broken the trail. The Comwallis was the 
only one of the ships coming direct from Dundee 
which carried a surgeon, but there were three on 
the Newfoundland fleet. 

May 26th. Monday. We both moved a few 
miles north this day, but the ice was very heavy 
and the conditions for advance unfavorable. 
Some distance astern, we saw the Bear, but she 
was not making much headway and we all three 
were tied up by noon. 

A ship, when anchored to a floe, has her bows 
against it and a cable out to an ice anchor on one 
bow or on both, according to the weather. From 
the jib-boom a rope ladder always hangs, so that 
one can easily get on to or leave the floe. There 
is generally a man on the ladder when the ship 
approaches the ice, and as she touches, he drops 
off and, with an ice drill, makes a hold for the ice 
anchor. 

Bringing Armitage, we went to a crack up 
which looms were flying, and had a pleasant after- 
noon shooting them. They were fast-flying birds, 
and the knowledge of the fact that they would 
not be wasted gave zest to our sport. Shooting 
guillemot rising off the water would not be much 



EST THE WHALER AURORA 119 

fun, but picking off single birds as they passed 
was good practice. 

The looms we saw in such thousands were, I be- 
lieve, Uria Brunichii. 

The ships were tied up when I turned in. 

May 27th. Tuesday. The ice was slack, so we 
kept in a northerly direction, making good head- 
way. We left the Comwallis and, following a 
good lead, passed the Nanvhal, which had been 
the leading ship for some days. 

During the evening, the Bear came after us, but 
we were able to keep ahead. Captain Fair- 
weather decided to give Upernivik a wide berth, 
as he once had had an unpleasant experience 
with the rocks of that charming Greenland sum- 
mer resort, so we kept going north all night. 

There was a wonderful amount of life on board 
a whaler, on account of the crew being so large. 
In the 'tween-decks, one generally found a number 
of men at work, picking oakum, spinning rope 
yarn, or other yarns, and weaving sennet. The 
carpenter and his assistant were found at work 
in one place, the cooper busy in another, while the 
sailmaker sat and sewed. On the deck, in some 
sheltered corner, one found the blacksmith at 
work, and there were always jobs being done in 
the engine room. But it was easy work, none of 
the dog's life one saw on other ships. 

There are said to be runic monuments in the 
vicinity of Upernivik, and one on Woman's 
Island is said to bear the date of 1135. The early 
travellers, who are supposed to be responsible for 



120 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

these records, are also said to have visited Lan- 
caster Sound. 

When one considers that Baffin circumnavi- 
gated the bay which bears his name, in 1616, in 
a craft of fifty-five tons, and when one examines 
a Viking ship of a thousand years ago and finds 
it a substantial clinker built boat, a hundred feet 
long with fine beam, one sees no reason why a 
twelfth century vessel could not make her way 
to Lancaster Sound. 

May 28th. Wednesday. We had a day racing 
with the Bear. She managed to pass us just be- 
fore we reached Browns Island, and hooked on to 
the floe some distance from us. After a little, the 
Narwhal joined us, and later the ComwaUis. 
Armitage and I went off in our dingey and had a 
few pleasant hours shooting looms. We shot a 
lot of them, which were divided between the two 
ships. It took me some time to overcome a preju- 
dice and to become accustomed to seeing looms on 
the table in any shape or form, but they were 
really much better than any ducks we killed, be- 
cause they were not at all fishy and our cook un- 
derstood about skinning them. They tasted 
rather like roast hare. 

During the afternoon, the weather was thick 
and it was snowing. The coast of Greenland, at 
this point, was fringed by hundreds of islands of 
all sizes and shapes. They were everywhere and 
some had names while others had not. One navi- 
gated there by rule of thumb, only moving when 
landmarks could be seen, and avoiding visible 




Valentine. 



Following Leads 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 121 

dangers. Occasionally, something one did not 
see, destroyed the ship, as there were hundreds 
of uncharted rocks. In approaching a settlement, 
a native generally came on board and pointed out 
the way, but the coast was a dangerous one and 
the ships only kept close to it in order that they 
might avoid the terrible middle pack. 

May 29th. Thursday. We were bumping along 
towards the west when I came on deck, as the ice 
looked slacker in that direction, but we had to 
return shortly after breakfast and, after thrash- 
ing around for most of the morning, we managed 
to strike a good lead and gain a few miles. There 
was no shooting, as the ship did not stop. 

The Comwallis kept near us all day, and the 
Narwhal was not far away. As we were now on 
the edge of the notorious Melville Bay, it became 
interesting. Greely's famous thirty-six hour 
passage was not going to be repeated by us, that 
was evident. I recalled Cheynes' account of its 
dangers, but we were so comfortable on board the 
Aurora, and meals were served with such regular- 
ity, that it was only possible to realize the danger 
by watching floes crunch into each other as they 
were pressed together by irresistible forces. We 
hooked on at night with little in sight but floes 
and bergs. 

It is a wonderful thing to see a berg ploughing 
its way through a frozen sea, slowly but surely, 
overcoming all obstacles, provided, always, that 
the water was deep enough to keep its mighty 
base from grounding. On this day there were 



122 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

dozens in sight. They were in every direction 
and one could easily understand the hopelessness 
of a sailing ship's position, beset in these waters, 
with a gale driving bergs down upon her. 

May 30th. Friday. We were lying, hooked on 
to the floe, in the forenoon, when I looked over 
the side and saw a beautiful male King eider duck 
(S. Spectabilis) sitting on the water within ten 
feet of the Captain's port. The Captain was in 
bed, as he had been in the crow's nest for days, 
nearly all the time. His port was open and I did 
not want to wake him, so, taking a gun, I went on 
the ice and, firing from there, killed the bird with- 
out the report being heard in the cabin, and the 
dog, Jock, went out and brought the bird in. It 
was the first King eider I had shot and it looked 
beautiful in its spring plumage. The striking 
thing about the bird was the enormous frontal 
processes bulging high above the bill and brightly 
colored. These were soft and shrank rapidly as 
they dried, losing their color. The plumage was 
a mixture of black, white, pearl gray and sea 
green, making a gorgeous whole. The first bird 
one sees of a beautiful species always excites 
more admiration than the others, and so I was 
delighted with this and carefully skinned it. 

The evening made no change in the conditions 
and we remained fast all night. 

May 31st. Saturday. All the ships were stuck 
in the morning. The Cornwallis and Narwhal 
were some distance astern, the Arctic near the 
shore, the Nova Zembla and Polynia close to- 




Polynia 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 123 

gether to the west of us. There were an immense 
number of bergs, some of them, no doubt, 
aground, as there were many islands and rocks. 
We were lying off Tassuisak, a not very populous 
place, and I was in hope that some natives, seeing 
the ships, would come off. 

During the afternoon, we got under way and 
poked about without moving much further north. 
When we were crossing any open places, the ship 
steamed very slowly and a man was kept forward, 
on the lookout for submerged rocks. 



124 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER XI 

MELVILLE BAY 

" And hark! The lengthening roar continuous runs 
Athwart the rifted deep, at once it bursts 
And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds." 

June 1st. Sunday. Owing to a change of wind 
the ice had loosened and during the night we man- 
aged to push on to Berry Island. The Bear and 
Thetis appeared upon the scene during the after- 
noon, and we saw the Bear strike a sunken rock. 
We hooked on to the small island with several of 
the other ships, the Bear being on our starboard 
side, and the Narwhal, Arctic and Thetis on the 
port. I saw Commander Schley going on board 
the Bear and examining her with a water tele- 
scope. His boat passed very close to our quarter 
and the Captain spoke to him as he went. 

The ships were all lying close to the shore floe 
with this low island in front of them, and it looked 
as if they might be there some time, so I went on 
shore with the surgeon of the Arctic. There was 
a camera sitting on the ice near the Thetis, so the 
ships were evidently being photographed. We 
wandered about the inhospitable place for a time 
and came on board. The perpetual daylight made 
me very irregular in my movements, coming and 
going at all hours; my day was regulated by my 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 125 

meals. Those who had watches to keep slept and 
got up with their usual regularity. 

June 2nd. Monday. The day fine, and we were 
still tied up at the island. I took a gun and went 
on shore after breakfast, but there was not much 
to shoot. In a little valley I saw a quantity of 
dead grass sticking out of the ice. On going over 
and examining, I found a number of human skele- 
tons. Wherever there was a big bunch of grass, 
there I found an ice-covered skeleton. Probably 
they were Eskimos. When I returned to the ship 
there were a number of natives on board. They 
came from Tassuisak and had some seal skins to 
trade. 

Some of our men had visited the Arctic. She 
had been in Godhaven, so had much trade and 
our men procured some of it. Afterwards I 
bought a kayak model from one of these. It was 
very beautifully made. The skin tobacco pouches 
and slippers made by natives in Godhaven looked 
nicer than any I saw from other settlements. 

The southern Greenland towns were better 
than those further north, but the whalers seldom 
called at any further south than Holstenborg. I 
went on board the Bear for awhile during the 
evening with Dr. Crawford and met Lieutenant 
Emory. During the day I saw several very beau- 
tiful glaucous gulls. They are called burgomas- 
ters by the sailors. 

June 3rd. Tuesday. Immediately to the north 
of where we lay there were a great many icebergs. 
They presented a very fine appearance with the 



126 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

sun shining on them. The Thetis and Bear 
started off: amongst these bergs. We tried to 
move out to the west, but did not accomplish 
much; for when evening came we were no further 
north than when we started. In the distance and 
to the west of us we saw a berg on the top of 
which there was a black spot. What could it be? 
From the crow's nest the telescope revealed noth- 
ing but a black spot on the icy slope. 

There was a narrow lead going in this direction, 
so the mate and myself went with a boat's crew to 
solve the mystery. We were able to take a whale 
boat a long distance through the lead, and then 
we walked the rest of the way. I had brought a 
rifle in case there should be a chance of a shot. On 
getting up to the berg we found that it was not fast, 
but that owing to its great depth in the water it 
had a motion independent of its floe. On one side 
there had been a great slide, and up this we pro- 
posed going. 

Just at this place the motion of the berg had 
ground up a lot of ice at its base, and also some 
of the floe, so that one had very unstable footing 
to jump to and from in crossing the surrounding 
fissure. 

However, we all managed without mishap and 
ascended the slide to within six or eight feet of 
the top. I was then pushed up this little cliff and 
found that, with the exception of the place we had 
come up, the sides were sheer precipices. It was 
necessary to traverse a snowy undulation before 
the black object came into view. The mate joined 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 127 

me with some of the others and it was exciting for 
a few minutes, but disappointing when we found 
only a big black stone which the berg had picked 
up probably during its glacial days. 

The islands of ice often turn over owing to the 
frost splitting them when the weather is cold. 
This frequent alteration of their centre of grav- 
ity makes them very undesirable neighbors, espe- 
cially in the autumn. While it was disappointing 
finding only a stone when we expected something 
wonderful, yet the view from the summit was 
magnificent. 

Immediately around little but ice could be seen, 
with here and there some black threads of water 
and many great bergs scattered about. 

In the distance the coast of Greenland looked 
bold. It had been rather high all the way up 
from Upernivik, but Cape Shackleton, rising to a 
height of thirteen hundred feet, looked very im- 
posing, being precipitous. There was a great 
loomery on its cliffs, which was probably the home 
of the thousands of those birds which we saw 
every day flying along the cracks, or about the 
pools of open water. There was much less trouble 
getting down the berg than getting up, but we 
were all tired when we reached the ship as we 
were not accustomed to long walks. 

June 4th. Wednesday. The morning was fine, 
and many ships were in sight. During the night 
we had passed Cape Shackleton. To the south 
we saw the Thetis, evidently in the rips off Horse 
Heade, with the 'Bear astern of her. The Nova 



128 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

Zembla and Triune were several miles to the west, 
and caught in the pack, while all the other ships 
were together. During the morning the Thetis, 
Bear and Polynia came up and joined us in our 
feeble attempt to push along. 

Later in the day the weather turned cold and 
cloudy, but no storm came, and the ice was very 
tight at bedtime. 

June 5th. Thursday. A beautiful day with 
sunshine and blue sky. Nearly all the ships were 
anchored to the ice or stuck in our immediate 
vicinity. We were hooked on in a large lake and 
close to us there were a number of great bergs. 
During the morning I took the dingey and rowed 
amongst them, as there was no floe ice near. 

The silence was very impressive, the only sound 
being that made by the splashing of water as it 
trickled down the icy sides of the bergs, or the 
cry of some seabird. I traced the base of one 
of these hoary giants a long way into the depths, 
but the water of the Arctic sea is by no means 
clear, owing to the vast numbers of animalculae 
which inhabit it. 

I shot a big bag of little auks here, but was care- 
ful not to do any shooting whilst close to the bergs, 
as the concussion might have brought down ice. 
During the afternoon the floe opened a little, and 
the expedition ships came close to us, but the Nova 
Zembla and Triune still appeared to be held in 
the pack. We all watched like hawks for a chance 
to reach the Duck Islands, now only a few miles 
ahead. Greely might have been there. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 129 

June 6th. Friday. This was one of the most 
exciting days we had— eight of us all on edge and 
each trying to get ahead of his neighbor. This 
friendly rivalry added zest to the trip. We were 
quite close to the Duck Islands, which made the 
starting point of the Melville Bay passage. 

The day was glorious and we spent most of it 
fast to a floe. The exciting thing was when late 
in the evening a crack occurred near the Arctic. 
It was not more than a mile or two across the floe 
to the open water at the Duck Islands, and this 
crack appeared to extend the whole way. When 
it was wide enough the Arctic and Aurora imme- 
diately entered, but before we had gone any dis- 
tance, the ice closed astern of us, preventing any 
of the others entering. For a short time we were 
caught, and it looked like the nips, then the floe 
seemed to swing, closing behind us and opening 
in front, so that we steamed away with a cheer, 
leaving the others barred out. The -Bear, after 
a short time, succeeded in breaking a way for her- 
self and the Thetis, and all the rest followed like 
ducks. 

I was aloft for a time watching this game of 
follow the leader and keenly interested in this 
Arctic race. We entered the patch of open water 
about midnight, and steaming across made fast 
to the ice at the islands. 

June 7th. Saturday. It was wonderful how 
little we slept when there was excitement. I 
enjoyed it' so much that I was afraid of missing 
anything by going below, but after the race we 



130 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

had just finished, as we had all hooked on, I felt 
that it was safe to turn in as there was nothing 
but dense pack ahead. The Arctic and Aurora 
were lying very close to the Bear, and the The- 
tis was not far off. We were on the west side of 
the Middle Duck, the rest of the fleet being on the 
other side. It was evident that there were no 
explorers here to be rescued, for the approach 
of the fleet was rather imposing and they would 
have seen it. 

After a rest, taking a gun I made my way on 
shore. We were too early for eggs, but there were 
plenty of ducks and the shooting was rather good. 
Numbers of phalarope (Lobipes Hyperboreus) 
were about. They were graceful little birds and 
no doubt bred here later. Coming back for the 
dingey I rowed out to a point of ice past which 
there was a flight of ducks, but was astonished 
to find the birds so shy in such a quiet place. Per- 
haps the sight of the ships invading this sanctu- 
ary made them a little nervous. I managed, how- 
ever, to add considerably to my bag. There did 
not appear to be any loosening of the ice, so none 
of the ships made any effort to move. I went on 
board the Arctic during the afternoon and re- 
ceived a supply of apples from Captain Gruy. 
The surgeon returned with me and spent the eve- 
ning on the Aurora. As our boiler required some 
repair this was attended to during the day and 
it made a wonderful difference to the temperature 
of the cabin having no heat in the engine room for 
a few hours. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 131 

June 8th. Sunday. A peaceful day and per- 
fectly calm with some fog. All the ships were 
hooked on to the floe. Crawford of the Arctic 
came on board and we took our dingey and went 
to one of the islands. Some men from the relief 
ships were there. They were shooting with eight 
bores, the first time I had ever seen guns of that 
calibre; I saw them make some long shots. We 
secured a few ducks, eider and long tailed. 

During the afternoon we went on board the 
Bear, and again met Lieutenant Emory and his 
officers. Lieutenant Colwell showed us the ship. 
The arrangement of the berths in the cabin was 
splendid; they were curtained off by drawing out 
poles, and by pushing these in the sleeping quar- 
ters were reduced in size, and the saloon enlarged. 

I should say that the 'Bear was the fastest ship 
of the fleet, except, perhaps, the Arctic, which had 
powerful engines. The only thing against the 
Arctic was her great length which made it diffi- 
cult to turn her about in small water holes, and 
to manoeuvre amongst the ice as some of the 
others were able to do. 

The Wolf and Narwhal had moved off and were 
caught in the pack by bedtime. 

We were then on the threshold of Melville Bay, 
the reputation of which was most unsavory. 

Perhaps the most interesting occurrence there 
during historic times was the loss of nineteen 
ships and a total of £140,000 damage to the fleet 
on June 19th, 1830. This event has been called 
the Baffin's Bay Fair, because the one thousand 



132 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

men who suddenly found themselves homeless 
upon the ice, made the best of their circumstances 
and enjoyed themselves immensely. 

Before the ships went down they secured quan- 
tities of liquor and food and afterwards estab- 
lished comfortable camps. There was an abun- 
dance of wood from the wrecks, so they made 
bonfires around which they danced. The curi- 
ous part of it was that no lives were lost, and that 
the entire party ultimately reached home safe. 

There is an interesting oil painting of this event 
in the museum at Peterhead. 

June 9th. Monday. We seemed permanent 
fixtures now and felt that we owned the place in 
spite of the ducks. I took the dingey with a boy 
and pulled off to a long point of ice on the west 
side of the island not far from where we lay. We 
were able to hide behind a heavy piece of ice with 
the boat and I shot a number of ducks in the 
handsome plumage of that season. Then landing, 
found numbers of old nests made of feathers 
and down. They had been driven into crevices 
of rock by storms and one could have collected a 
quantity of down. While on the island I saw and 
heard my first finner whale. He was making a 
great noise as he breathed. Finners have little 
oil and short bone, so they are not pursued. They 
are also very quick in their movements and con- 
sequently dangerous. This one came up several 
times in different water holes about the islands 
and then disappeared. 

At dinner we were discussing vegetables and 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 133 

all agreed that the best on board the ship were 
the tinned carrots. They were simply boiled and 
put up in pieces six or seven inches long. They 
were absolutely as fresh and sweet as the day on 
which they were prepared. We called them Car- 
noustie carrots, as they had come from that place. 
Our Dundee meat was excellent at this time. We 
had a good supply of it, and very seldom saw salt 
beef or salt pork on the cabin table during the 
voyage. 

The steak for breakfast was served on a sort 
of metal basket; a handle crossed the middle of 
this and on each side there was a lid. The steak 
was under one lid and fried onions under the 
other. We also had hot rolls every morning, 
although ship's bread was always on the table. 

June 10th. Tuesday. Early in the morning the 
Aurora unhooked and for a little while managed 
to push her way northwest. The Wolf and Nar- 
whal had gained by moving on. There was always 
a chance of a lead opening and letting one through. 
We had reached the Duck Islands first, by taking 
the lead while the others hesitated. We now en- 
tered the pack further than we wished to and then 
spent some time trying to extricate ourselves. 

There was always danger of being beset in the 
pack and carried down the straits again; in it 
there was no safe anchorage, as it might twist and 
turn in any direction, and a low temperature 
might even freeze the ship up, whereas following 
the shore floe gave one a lead of open water every 
time the pack floated off, and should it be driven 



134 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

in the ship could generally find a bay or indenta- 
tion in which she was fairly safe. 

In consequence of this the captains became 
nervous when they found themselves beset in the 
pack. At night we were almost out of sight of 
the islands. The Wolf and Narwhal were not far 
from us. 

June 11th. Wednesday. Before morning we 
managed to work north some distance. The Wolf, 
Narwhal and Arctic were close to us. The relief 
ships during the day were joined by the Triune, 
Cornwallis and Nov a Zemola. 

We all made some headway, but in the after- 
noon we were so nearly caught once or twice that 
we steamed back towards the islands and arrived 
almost at our old anchorage by the following 
morning. 

June 12th. Thursday. In the morning a lot 
of us were back at the old anchorage again, but 
the Arctic was still to the north, close to the The- 
tis and \Bear. The Wolf and Narwhal were out 
in the pack to the west of us, but in the afternoon 
these last joined us. During the day I shot a lot 
of ducks, all eider and king eider, afterwards land- 
ing on a floe from which a peninsula ran out hav- 
ing a narrow isthmus covered with very high 
hummocks. Crossing this isthmus to the penin- 
sula beyond, I came upon the perfectly fresh foot- 
prints of a bear and two cubs, leading from the 
water to the big hummocks over which I had come 
and over which my route back lay. Having only 
a sixteen bore and number four shot, this discov- 




A Whaler amongst Ice 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 135 

ery was disquieting for a time, as a bear with cubs 
might fight. However, she did not materialize. 

All the other ships were closer inshore during 
the evening, while we moved west a little. Dur- 
ing the night we moved off up a lead. 

June 13th. Friday. We were hard and fast, 
the Gomwallis, Triune, Esquimcmx and Narwhal 
in sight close inshore. The Arctic and Wolf out 
with the expedition ships. They were apparently 
beset. We lay frozen up all day, with not even 
a duck to shoot. The Sugarloaf, a high mountain 
on the Greenland coast, showed up well and made 
a good landmark. 

June 14th. Saturday. The day began with a 
heavy snow storm, but shortly after breakfast it 
cleared off. The ice opened to the west, so we 
steamed in that direction, leaving the fleet of 
older ships apparently fast inshore, and we did 
not see any of them again for a long time. We 
made very little headway at first, but found the 
ice slack after dinner and managed to push 
through it. 

Later a series of good leads opened up and we 
worked a long way north. When I turned in, the 
relief ships with the Arctic and Wolf were in sight 
ahead of us. 

We passed a curious pillar of rock called the 
Devil's Thumb; it was a long way off. Every 
one took off his hat to it as was the custom. 

Steering amongst ice was sometimes very dan- 
gerous for the man at the wheel, because the ship 
going astern was liable to bump her rudder 



136 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

against the ice. This, of course, sent the wheel 
flying around. We had a man hurt in this way 
by receiving a blow from the wheel during the 
afternoon. 

June 15th. Sunday. We had good leads all the 
morning and were never blocked for any length 
of time. By breakfast time we overtook the Arc- 
tic and Wolf with relief ships. Then we all 
hooked on to a heavy floe in an open pool of water. 
Very shortly we were off again, but it looked dan- 
gerous, so we tied up. The Wolf was the first to 
be free. She entered a lead and it closed behind 
her, exactly as it had done with us at the Duck 
Islands. However, later in the day the pack drew 
off and we all steamed along the edge of the shore 
floe, the Thetis bringing up the rear. This was 
an exciting race, and no one turned in while the 
water remained open. The Wolf had the lead, 
the Arctic and Aurora being together. Occasion- 
ally some of us would diverge a little, but we were 
in line pretty well all the time. 

June 16th. Monday. I turned in when I found 
the way blocked and all the ships tied up, as 
everything seemed frozen solid, except the pool 
in which we lay. Seven bells awoke me to find 
things as they had been. Captain Fairweather 
shot a Sabine gull after breakfast and I shot some 
looms, which were picked out of the water by 
Jock the dog, who retrieved very well. I went 
on board the Wolf with the Captain, and saw Cap- 
tain Burnette. During the evening the Arctic 
steamed off and we followed with the Wolf, but 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 137 

the lead closed so we all were caught. The Au- 
rora, managed to push out into the loose ice in a 
little while, but the Wolf remained and the Arc- 
tic was fairly in the nips. 

The evening was fine and we saw land to the 
north and dozens of bergs to the east of us. There 
was a crack running into the floe for two hundred 
yards close to our ship. It was probably twenty- 
five yards wide at the entrance. A great many 
looms flew up this and returned when they found 
it a blind lead. The dingey was lowered and the 
Captain and myself had a few hours ' shooting 
and secured a great many. They were tied in 
bunches and hung upon the chains connecting the 
quarter davits. 

June 17th. Tuesday. All were frozen up. I 
tried stalking a seal, as there were several in 
sight, but I could not get near any of them. The 
Arctic was still nipped, the Wolf was with us and 
the relief ships a little way east. During the 
evening we were all moving around, except the 
Arctic. 

We were ahead and the Wolf next, the Bear 
bringing up the rear. Later the Thetis fell 
back, for she could not keep up. Cape York 
was in sight and all four of us were rather 
close together. 

With the Aurora leading, we kept this up all 
night, every one greatly excited. In the small 
hours we were all up to a barrier. Among the 
Arctic ice it would have been useless to roll the 
ship as we had done at Newfoundland, the young 



138 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

ice on that coast being very different from the 
Arctic floe met with in Melville Bay. 

June 18th. Wednesday. /The race for Cape 
York and the north was far too exciting to permit 
of sleep, so for the following few days I never 
undressed, but kept going up and down all the 
time. If we stuck I lay down, and when the en- 
gine started I went up. 

At one A. M. we were with the Wolf and re- 
lief ships, pounding away at the floe which sep- 
arated us from the open water at Cape York. 
The Aurora was the first to break through, when 
we all gave a great cheer and shouted, " The 
north water! " I immediately went forward, and 
sitting on the jib-boom, realized that I was the 
nearest white man to Greely, possibly the nearest 
to the pole. I sat there for a long time as we were 
steaming fast towards the land through open 
water. 

As we neared the shore the Bear passed us. 
She was a faster ship and she reached the shore 
floe some minutes before us. 

Seeing a party land on the ice from the Bear, 
we turned off southwest. As the Thetis and Wolf 
were coming up, the Captain went on board the 
former and bade the commander good-by, and 
good luck, then we crept off to the southwest with 
the Wolf. The Bear having spoken the Thetis, 
steamed west after us, the weather being rather 
thick. 

Finding the ice heavy to the west, we tried a 
lead to the north, but were beset for some time. 




Valentine. 



Pounding away at the Floe 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 139 

The fog was so thick that nothing could be seen 
ahead. We saw nothing further of the Thetis as 
she remained at Cape York to pick up the party 
landed by the Bear. 

I turned in for a time during the night, as the 
ship was beset by heavy ice. We had now com- 
pleted the passage of Melville Bay without acci- 
dent and nearly every one on board felt that the 
greatest danger of the voyage was over, so we 
would work our way to the west and look for 
whales. In the race from St. John's to Cape York 
we had been beaten by the Bear only, and that by 
just a few minutes. The Arctic, Thetis and Wolf 
were all close, but in the last lap the Aurora and 
\Bear were neck and neck almost to the winning 
post. 



140 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER XII 

CAPE YORK TO CAREY ISLANDS 

" And now there came both mist and snow 
And it grew wondrous cold, 
And ice, mast-high, came floating by 
As green as emerald." 

I noticed a rather curious phenomenon while 
coming up the Greenland coast, but thinking that 
there was probably some simple explanation, 
made no note of it. One evening while in the 
passage at the foot of the stairs I heard a peculiar 
whistling. It was like the noise one sometimes 
hears when standing beside a telegraph pole. The 
steward was in the pantry and I drew his atten- 
tion to it. The sound was very distinct in the 
pantry, and not noticeable in the saloon, which 
was on the same deck but a little further aft. The 
steward said he had heard it before and we con- 
cluded it was due to a vibration of the taut rig- 
ging conducted down the mizzenmast to this par- 
ticular place. The engine was silent at the time, 
otherwise the noise of machinery would have 
drowned everything else. 

I listened to the peculiar whistle several times 
after and always heard it very distinctly in the 
pantry. The steward had sailed Arctic waters 
for years, but he made no comment on this sub- 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 141 

ject and never mentioned having heard it on other 
ships, nor did any one else on board the Aurora 
speak of it at all; in fact, we were probably the 
only two who noticed it. 

Years after I came across the following passage 
in " Old Whaling Days," by Captain Barron: 

" From latitude 69 N. to latitude 74 N. on the 
east side and in Melville Bay, not far from the 
land, a strange phenomenon is heard resembling 
a very weird whistling in a high note and gradu- 
ally dying away to a very low one. It is only 
heard when it is calm, and most distinctly when 
in a boat or in a ship's lazarette which is nearly 
level with the water. On deck it is seldom 
heard." The above interested me as it describes 
what I noticed. Captain Barron believes it to be 
connected with the Aurora Borealis, which he 
states can be heard but not seen when the sun 
shines on a summer's night in the Arctic. 

June 19th. Thursday. The engine starting up 
brought me on deck. The fog had lifted and the 
Arctic and Wolf could be seen astern, while the 
\Bear was to the north of us. Some time after we 
were steaming through a nice lead into open 
water ahead. I was on the bridge, where the sec- 
ond mate was in charge, and the Captain was in 
the crow's nest, which he seldom left. Pres- 
ently we noticed the lead very narrow, being little 
wider than the ship. A moment later we were 
among crunched up ice and within twenty or 
thirty yards of the open water and the ship was 
slowing up owing to her progress being impeded 



142 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

by the ice. The Captain called down, " Get over 
there, some of you men, and push that ice out of 
the way with poles." We were almost through, 
and it looked as though a few pieces pushed away 
would relieve the situation. Specksioneer Lyon 
and twenty others were immediately over, and 
began pushing. Almost at once Lyon called up, 
" It's coming together, sir," and sure enough we 
were caught between two points of great floes 
coming together and the Aurora was in the great- 
est danger of being lost within the next few min- 
utes. The Captain immediately came down and 
began giving orders. All boats were provisioned 
and lowered away. I rushed to my cabin and was 
rolling up my blankets, when he brought the log, 
which he asked me to put with my things. I took 
my bundles on deck with a rifle and gun, and by 
this time the ship was so squeezed that my door 
would not open or shut, and she had a heavy port 
list. As the Arctic and Wolf were a short dis- 
tance astern of us, there was no danger to life 
and I thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of being 
shipwrecked so comfortably. With a bump the 
ship righted herself greatly and presently, after 
straining and groaning, she slipped up consider- 
ably. Her water line was now above the crunch- 
ing ice and she was for the time being tolerably 
safe. This all happened in a very short time and 
it was a wonderful escape. I went on to the ice 
forward with the mate and engineer; and while 
there the ship slipped up higher still, so that she 
was almost out of the water. 







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IN THE WHALER AURORA 143 

The surgeon of the Arctic paid us a visit at 
this time and took the two photographs here re- 
produced after some retouching. The first one 
shows the ship in the nips; in it I happened to be 
in the foreground. In the second she has slipped 
up and is almost out of the water. The mate, 
engineer and myself were on the ice in front at 
the time. Sailors were a little superstitious, and 
did not like their ship being photographed while 
in distress, so these pictures were very hurriedly 
taken. For some hours the Aurora rested in this 
position and we knew that eventually the ice 
would open and let her into the water. Our prin- 
cipal anxiety was about the stern post and rud- 
der; but these fortunately escaped injury. Our 
propeller had only two blades, so when the ship 
was sailing or stuck in the ice the propeller was 
always stopped with the blades up and down. 
While in this position the whole thing could easily 
be unshipped, and we carried an extra one. As 
looms were flying about in numbers along the floe 
edge just in front of the ship I shot a big bag of 
them. They fell into the water, but drifted 
against the ice edge where I picked them up. 
The Arctic and Wolf were pretty tightly caught 
astern of us, but they had not to abandon the ships 
as we had. During the afternoon the pack was 
tighter than ever and it made weird sounds at 
times. We had our meals on board and were all 
very happy at our wonderful escape, especially 
the Captain, who was determined to take home a 
cargo of whales in his own ship instead of return- 



144 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

ing as passenger on one of the others. During 
the night a crack occurred under the bows. This 
opened by degrees, letting the ship down. We 
hoisted up our boats and the shipwreck was over. 
When whalers go into Melville Bay they gen- 
erally arrange a quantity of provisions so that 
it can be easily reached in event of their suddenly 
having to leave the ship as we had done. 

June 20th. Friday. After our escaping from 
the nips, we steamed in a northerly direction, 
with the Arctic and Wolf a heavy fog came on. 
I was very tired, so went and lay down. 

As the engine room was aft, a person in any of 
the staterooms could easily hear the bell there 
being rung from the crow's nest. How long I 
had been lying down, I don't know, but some- 
thing awoke me. I knew, from the sound of the 
engine, we were going fast ahead, but I heard 
the bell ring, " stop her," and then immediately 
full speed astern. Knowing that something was 
wrong, I rushed on deck; it was very thick and 
I heard some one say, " O my God, we are lost! " 
and just then on the starboard side of the ship, I 
saw a great berg towering above us. We just 
missed it! All was well! We steamed dead slow 
for awhile and I realized that those who " went 
down to the sea in ships " could have a great deal 
of excitement in two days. About an hour after 
this a steam whistle blew right ahead. The fog 
instantly lifted a little and there was the Arctic 
shooting across our bows. We both stopped, and 
the Captain went over to her. When the Captain 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 145 

came on board again the fog was gone and we 
were off Conical Rock. The ice was loose here 
and the two ships kept together until we passed 
Cape Dudley Diggs. Here we drifted farther 
apart, but were within sight of each other all the 
way to Wolstenholm Island. 

During the night we arrived at the island, but 
found that the Bear had been there ahead of us, 
so we directed our course towards Carey Islands, 
the ice being loose, but the weather pretty thick. 

June 21st. Saturday. Heavy fog and plenty 
of ice, so our speed was slow. Sometimes it cleared 
a little and we could see for several miles ahead. 
There were numbers of birds about, principally 
guillemot and eider duck. They probably had 
headquarters at Wolstenholm, and Carey Islands. 
Natives repaired to Wolstenholm at this season 
of the year and collected eggs ; but Carey Islands 
were in the middle of the Sound and, I fancy, left 
pretty well undisturbed. During the afternoon 
it became very thick, and for a time we stopped 
steaming, as we could not make out the leads and 
there was some heavy ice about. Late in the eve- 
ning it cleared a little and we ran in to Carey 
Island. The Arctic was ahead of us, and the Wolf 
in the distance. I wrote some letters in the eve- 
ning as I thought there might be a chance of send- 
ing them on board the Bear. Our Captain had 
decided to go from this place to the whaling 
ground, and leave the Greely part of it to the 
expedition ships, as the owners would not thank 
him for risking the vessel in higher latitudes and 



146 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

possibly missing his chance for whales in Lan- 
caster Sound. The Arctic had a boat on shore, 
but saw nothing of explorers or records. The 
\Bear left the islands after midnight, but was not 
near us, so I had no chance of sending my letters. 
This was the last we saw of the relief ships. 
They picked Greely up within twenty-four hours 
at Cape Sabine. We knew nothing of it until 
later, when we heard the news from some of the 
slower ships, which met the expedition returning 
with the rescued, and their story was as follows: 
June 22nd. After the \Bear left Carey Islands, 
she joined the Thetis and they proceeded to Cape 
Sabine, where they arrived during the evening. 
From records found on Brevoort Island near Cape 
Sabine, they knew where the explorer was, and 
he was picked up by Lieutenant Colwell of the 
\Bear almost at the place where he, Colwell, landed 
after the loss of the Proteus. Of the twenty-five 
who left with Greely a few years before, but 
seven were now alive, and the story they told of 
starvation and death was in tune with others we 
have all read of Arctic exploration and was 
doubly impressive when told to us, situated as 
we were in the dreary regions where the tragedy 
had been enacted. Greely had done his work 
well. His two years at Fort Conger had been well 
spent. Lockwood had attained latitude 83° 24' in 
1882, beating all previous records. Most valuable 
magnetic observations had been made and the 
interior of Grinnell Land had been explored. 
The orders to abandon Fort Conger were carried 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 147 

out in 1883 and then their troubles began. Re- 
lief had not come, depots of provisions had not 
been established, and in a very dejected state they 
had arrived at Cape Sabine, where they estab- 
lished their final camp, the history of which sup- 
plies Arctic literature with its blackest chapter. 

On June 22nd Schley arrived at Cape Sabine. 
No Arctic expedition had ever done so well by 
this date, its first year. A week or two later there 
would probably not have been one survivor. This 
relief expedition had been perfectly successful 
in its gallant dash and had arrived not a minute 
too soon. 



148 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER XIH 

GAREY ISLANDS TO LANCASTER SOUND 

" Here winter holds his unrejoicing court; 
And through his airy hall the loud misrule 
Of driving tempest is forever heard. 
Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath, 
Here arms his winds and all-subduing frost. 
Moulds his fierce hail and treasures up his snows 
With which he now oppresses half the globe." 

June 22nd. Sunday. It was blowing very hard 
from the south, and there was much ice, so we 
had a difficult time picking our way. The weather 
was also bitterly cold. Again birds were very 
numerous. We were making our way to Prin- 
cess Charlotte's Monument on the west side, and 
it was slow work. The Arctic was ahead of us 
and not moving on any faster. We felt the loss 
of the relief ships. They were always a cause of 
some excitement, and there was a chance of find- 
ing Gf-reely so long as we kept going north. Now 
that that interest was removed, I consoled myself 
with the knowledge that we were nearing the 
magnetic pole, and would soon be steaming up 
Lancaster Sound, the highway to the northwest 
along which so many brave men had gone never 
to return. During the afternoon it became more 
squally, and when I turned in we were making 
little headway, but the wind was going down. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 149 

June 23rd. Monday. We were steaming in 
tolerably open water when I came on deck. The 
Arctic was ahead. Birds were numerous— some 
geese with hundreds of eider and guillemot. Af- 
ter breakfast we saw land ahead, that is, to the 
west, and during the afternoon were within a mile 
or so of it,— Princess Charlotte's Monument. 
There was much loose ice to the south and a 
straight floe edge to the north of us, and to this we 
hooked on two hundred yards to the east of the 
Arctic. We did not care to go closer to the rocks 
lest the ice should come in on us. I saw Dr. Craw- 
ford take the Arctic' 's launch and go ashore to look 
for eggs. Returning a couple of hours after, steam 
went down and the Arctic was obliged to unhook 
and go after them. It appeared that the boiler 
was too exposed and the cold so intense that they 
simply could not keep steam up. The launch had 
been keeping under the lee of the floe as much 
as possible, and when steam went down she began 
to drift away from this into rough water. For a 
few minutes things looked bad for her, as she was 
a wretched sea boat with her heavy boiler and 
engine. During the night we unhooked and 
worked our way towards the south. 

June 24th. Tuesday. Day fine, but blowing 
from the south. A lot of ice on the coast, and to 
the south and east all was white. We were now 
where whales might be seen and preparations 
were made. Eoregoers and lines were tested, 
harpoons examined, guns cleaned and fired to 
make sure they would work, lines coiled away in 



150 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

boats, and every one was on the lookout. We 
never heard of Disco or Cape York now. All was 
Lancaster Sound and Pond's Bay, with weird tales 
of cold days spent rock-nosing off Cape Kater and 
in Cumberland Gulf. All these preparations did 
not hurry matters in the least. The king of this 
country decided that we should remain for a day 
or two where we were, and so in the evening we 
were hooked on almost where the morning found 
us. 

June 25th. Wednesday. About noon the wind 
died down and the currents, setting south, took the 
ice off the coast so that we were able to crawl 
along a little; but a few hours later we made fast 
to the land floe off Cape Horsburgh, as the pack 
was drifting in again. We saw many walrus here, 
but did not like to spend time at them, as we 
wanted to be the first ship up the Sound. At tea 
time we moved along a little further and by bed- 
time we tied up again. Some of our tanks were 
pumped out and cleaned, ready for the antici- 
pated oil. There were a number of seals in 
sight, but they were left alone, as the time was 
precious. 

June 26th. Thursday. As the ship was hard 
and fast I took a rifle and went after some seals 
which were to be seen a mile away. Before going 
very far I found myself climbing over hummocks 
of old ice which had drifted down Jones Sound, 
and it was very difficult walking. On one side of 
a hummock the snow would be perfectly smooth 
and frozen hard, while on the other side it would 




Beset 




INI THE WHALER AURORA 151 

be so soft that one at once went through the sur- 
face and had to clamber along in several feet of it. 

Again, one would come to a perfectly rotten 
and honeycombed piece of ice underneath which 
there was a foot or two of water, and below the 
water could be seen the solid old floe; this made 
walking so difficult that I returned to the ship 
without getting a shot. 

June 27th and 28th were uneventful. We 
moved little, and Cape Horsburgh was in sight all 
the time, but on 

June 29th, Sunday, we had a good lead along 
the shore floe and were steaming fast through it 
when I came on deck. A number of bears were 
seen about noon, but the wind was from the south 
and the ice was coming in, so we hurried along. 
As there were a number of them, they were prob- 
ably attracted by some dead beast. 

Barron tells of seeing once about one hundred 
bears around a dead whale. He also tells of men 
being devoured by these creatures. 

In the days of muzzle-loaders there was more 
risk than there is now, because if one came sud- 
denly upon a bear with cubs and missed his shot, 
there might not be time to load again. 

Late in the evening we were off Cape Warren- 
der and were steaming amongst loose ice at bed- 
time. Several narwhals were seen during the 
afternoon, but we paid no attention to them. 

June 30th. Monday. Steaming up the Sound 
towards a solid floe at breakfast time with many 
white whales in sight. We steered south along 



152 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

the ice edge, and seeing an Eskimo standing on 
it, we sailed up to Mm. He was a very uncouth 
looking individual after the smartly dressed gen- 
tlemen on the Greenland side. His clothes did 
not fit and he was otherwise careless about his 
appearance. He had in his hand a narwhal's 
tusk, and as we came close we heard him singing 
' i Bonny Laddie —Highland Laddie. ' ' This he had 
probably learned from his parents, they having 
learned it from the whalers in sailing-ship days. 
In old times it was customary to lower the boats 
and tow the ship through the leads to the above 
tune. I was told this, so it may be true. The 
native came on board. He was much more like 
an American Indian than a Greenland Eskimo. 
Before he had been many minutes on board he was 
taken aft and relieved of his tusk by the second 
mate, getting in return some trifle : the gentleman 
belonged to Navy Board Inlet, on the south side, 
and not far away. 

The Captain had had a lot of paddles made for 
some of the boats. It was possible to approach 
whales with very little noise when the paddles 
were used, so we tried them frequently for nar- 
whal hunting. As there were numbers of these 
creatures in sight, we had a couple of boats out 
after them. A sharp lookout was kept from the 
crow's nest for whales coming up the Sound. We 
hooked on to the ice about two miles from the 
south shore, and put a boat out on either side of 
the ship and about a hundred yards away. These 
boats were hooked on by laying the long steering 




A Good Bag of Bears 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 153 

oar on the ice. Our narwhal hunters had no luck, 
so they came on board. 

July 1st, Tuesday. We were fast to the ice 
with a boat on each side all day. The Captain 
had a long interview with the native on the sub- 
ject of whales. He seemed to understand maps 
well, and was able to point out where he had seen 
fish; from what I could make out, a good number 
had been in the Sound. I spent the afternoon in 
a boat with the Captain trying to get a narwhal. 
We saw dozens and came pretty close to several 
lots, but did not get one good shot, although we 
fired several times. 

The harpoons we used for this work were much 
smaller than the regular whaling harpoon and 
were made of the same tough Swedish iron. 

Before turning in I spent an hour on deck and 
heard narwhals and white whales breathing about 
us all the time. Everything looked propitious. 

July 2nd. Wednesday. I had a dream during 
the night that we had succeeded in killing a nar- 
whal and that our youngest harpooner, Gyles, had 
killed it. Dreams were often recounted at the 
breakfast table, so I told this, and, as luck would 
have it, before dinner Gyles killed our first nar- 
whal. My night visions were subsequently treated 
with great respect, except by the steward, who 
felt, no doubt, that I was infringing a little on his 
rights. A coldness sprang up between us such as 
only professional jealousy can create, and which 
evinced itself the following day when he did not 
ask me to help him to pick the raisins for the duff 



154 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

— Thursday being duff day. The forenoon suc- 
cess gave quite an impetus to the narwhal fishing, 
but no more were captured, as the elusive beasts 
always went down just as we were almost within 
shot. 

The narwhal (Monodon Monoceros) is to me the 
most beautiful of the whale species. The one 
captured by us was twelve feet long without the 
tusk. This measured four feet in length and about 
four inches around the base. It ended in a rather 
sharp point and had a spiral groove running from 
right to left. The horn, or rather tooth, protrudes 
from the upper jaw of the male, generally on the 
left side. It only protrudes from the female head 
as a freak. On the right side a small undeveloped 
horn is found embedded in the skull of the male, 
but two undeveloped teeth are found in the fe- 
male. The narwhal is the only vertebrate animal 
in which bilateral symmetry is not the rule. The 
body is whitish, marbled with blackish brown, and 
about four of them yield a ton of oil. With an 
axe I easily split the cancellous skull and removed 
the embedded tusk. We saw hundreds of white 
whales this day (Delphinapterus leucas). These 
are cousins of the narwhals, but generally a little 
larger. The Aurora had great luck the previous 
year up Prince Regent's Inlet in getting a good 
catch of them. This was managed by driving 
them ashore. They were skinned and the skin 
made into leather. Each side counted as one skin. 

They go in schools like porpoises, but generally 
only three or four abreast, therefore it .takes a 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 155 

large school a considerable time to go past. They 
are peculiar in having no dorsal fin, and their yel- 
lowish white colour makes them rather conspicu- 
ous. 

July 3rd. Thursday. 'Before breakfast a bear 
was seen in the water and shot by McLean from 
a boat. Bears are always lucky and we knew that 
something better would soon come. While at 
breakfast a female narwhal was killed. It must 
have been fourteen feet long. I removed the two 
little embedded horns. Narwhals were very dif- 
ficult to capture with the appliances in use at this 
time, the harpoon gun being only effective at ten 
or fifteen yards. As the beast generally went 
down when one was about twenty yards away, a 
long shot had to be taken with a very clumsy gun. 
Very little of the narwhal showed above water, 
just the top of its head and back. Of course there 
was a good sized animal immediately under the 
water, so that a harpoon might miss the back and 
still lodge in the whale. It was very cold and we 
had several snow showers. The bear was skinned 
and the skin salted and put in a barrel, no attempt 
being made to dry or otherwise cure any of the 
bear skins taken during the voyage. They were 
kept green. 

July 4th. Friday. During the night there was 
a fall of snow and a breeze from the east had 
driven some loose ice up the Sound, and pieces 
were constantly breaking on 2 the floe. These 
drifted down the Sound with the current; but 
when there was wind from the east much of this 



156 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

broken ice would drift up and surround us. We 
were dodging about under canvas in the morning, 
and the wind, which was bitterly cold, was going 
down. During the forenoon we sailed up to the 
floe edge and hooked on about eight miles from the 
south side, putting two boats on the bran, that is, 
one on each side of the ship. The loose ice had 
drifted away, and as the afternoon was very fine 
the Captain decided to try the unies, as the nar- 
whals were called, and I went with him. One does 
not generally see very many unies together, but 
they were in fours and fives all over the place this 
afternoon and very shy. Just as the boat would 
get within twenty-five yards or so, off they would 
go. The Captain made a long shot at one and got 
fast. For a few minutes the line ran out rapidly, 
but the shot had been a long one and the harpoon 
drew, so we came on board disappointed. 

Paddles were used instead of oars, as they made 
less noise. On the fishing ground we avoided 
noise as much as possible and for this reason the 
ship seldom steamed, but kept her fires banked 
and moved about under canvas. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 157 



CHAPTER XIV 

OUR FIRST WHALE 

" Hoist out the boat at once and slacken sail." 

July 5th. Saturday. A beautiful day. After 
breakfast I was in a bran boat on the starboard 
side of the ship and one hundred and fifty yards 
away, when I heard a commotion on board, and in 
less time than it takes to tell, all our boats, ex- 
cept the upper quarter ones, were in the water 
and hurrying off towards us. Our steering oar 
was holding the boat to the ice, so it did not take 
long to get away, and we pulled hard for several 
minutes before the boat-steerer whispered: 
" Avast pulling." At this time the boats were 
scattered along the ice edge a hundred yards apart. 
A whale had been seen coming up the Sound. We 
knew that it would continue up under the ice, and 
failing to find a hole through which it could 
breathe, it would turn and come to the surface 
near the edge of the ice and close to some of the 
boats, and that unless we had very bad luck, it 
was doomed. In a few minutes we saw it a 
quarter of a mile down the Sound; it looked like 
two black islands, one the head and the other the 
back. It lay there for several minutes and we 



158 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

could distinctly hear it breathe. We saw the 
spout, then it sank slowly and disappeared. The 
excitement was now intense. The next time it 
would be beside a boat — which boat? Would 
it come up under us or beside us % Perfect silence 
was observed and the suspense of waiting for the 
first whale, I shall never forget. Probably ten 
minutes passed, when up came the fish almost be- 
side the boat in which George Matheson was har- 
pooner. As he was already standing by his gun, 
no order was given, and one sweep of the boat- 
steerer's oar gave him his shot. The gun went 
off, the foregoer sprang into the air and every 
man shouted: " A fall! a fall!' " The whale hesi- 
tated a few seconds before going down, and 
Matheson put in a hand-harpoon also. He was 
not ten feet from the whale when he fired, and 
almost touching when he put in the hand-harpoon. 
The fast boat now hoisted its jack and the fish 
went down and started towards the south side of 
the Sound, past the ship's stern. We pulled in 
this direction for all we were worth, the boat 
nearest the fast boat standing by it so as to supply 
more lines if necessary. When we had pulled 
hard for ten minutes, we slowed down, the boats 
keeping some distance apart, and shortly after, 
fifty yards from us, the whale came up. Immedi- 
ately a second boat, the mate's, got fast, the huge 
creature going down at once, and away we went 
again. When our quarry next appeared, about fif- 
teen or twenty minutes later, the nearest boat im- 
mediately began lancing, and presently we were at 




Underwood. 



Bone on Deck and Blubber Coming on Board 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 159 

it. Unfortunately we all had our backs to the scene 
of action, except the boat-steerer and harpooner. 
The heavy blast, every time it breathed, sounded 
uncomfortably close. In a few minutes the boat- 
steerer called, " Back, all! " and we immediately 
backed water, the whale hitting the water once 
or twice with his tail and going down; again we 
were off, but not so far this time. When he next 
appeared he rolled about a good deal and we were 
afraid to go close, so the second mate fired a 
Welsh's rocket under one of his flukes and then 
we all backed off. The rocket was fired from a 
harpoon gun. It had a charge of powder in its 
trocar-shaped head, and a fuse running down the. 
shaft. When this exploded the whale plunged 
fearfully and lashed the water with his huge 
horizontal tail. After this he was quiet and the 
water shot from his blow-hole was blood-stained. 
We now closed in again, and lances were plunged 
into his neck and churned up and down. Breath- 
ing became labored, and after a final flurry, his 
spirit passed and his blubber and bone were ours. 
What a cheer we gave ! What a feeling of exulta- 
tion! How near I felt to happy, unconventional, 
primitive man at that moment ! As the whale was 
lying on its back with the flukes hanging out, a 
round hole was cut in each of these, through which 
a piece of rope was run and the flukes reverently 
folded across his breast; with a knife all lines 
attached to harpoons were cut free so that the 
fast boats might haul them in. The tail was fast- 
ened to the bow of a boat, and, getting in line, we 



160 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

all proceeded to tow the fish back to the ship, 
which, by the way, made no effort to help us, as 
the weather was fine and there was nothing in 
sight. Arriving alongside, the tail was fastened 
forward and the head aft along the port side. We 
went on board, and after dinner, as I sat smoking 
with the Captain on the cabin skylight, I could 
not help feeling that the life of a whaler was the 
only one for me. 

At 1.30 P. M., all hands were called to flense the 
whale alongside. By means of tackle made fast 
to the lower jaw, called the nose tackle, the mouth 
could be opened and the tongue and the bone re- 
moved. The right whale (Balaena Mysticetus), 
of which this was a specimen, supplies practically 
all the whalebone. It grows from the sides of 
the upper jaw, three hundred blades hanging 
down on each side. They are ten and twelve 
inches wide where inserted into the gum, and nar- 
row as they descend. The inner edge is frayed 
and the outer unbroken. These frayed inner 
edges form a sort of sieve through which the 
water passes when the whale shuts its mouth, 
but through which the whale food cannot pass. 

The bone from each side is brought on board 
generally in one piece, sufficient gum being taken 
with it to hold the lamellae together. This is 
divided with a wedge into smaller pieces of about 
a dozen lamellae each, and subsequently each 
lamella is slit off with the wedge and freed from 
gum and oil. The longest blades are those in the 
centre on each side and they vary in length ac- 




m 



u 



« 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 161 

cording to the size of the animal — twelve feet 
being large. The size of a whale is estimated by 
the length of the longest blade, " a twelve-foot 
fish " being one in which this measures twelve 
feet. The bone is about a quarter of an inch thick 
and tears easily into long pieces. It is an albu- 
minous substance, containing calcium phosphate, 
and can be moulded when heated by steam, re- 
taining its shape if cooled under pressure. 

The busy part of a whaler during flensing is the 
deck between the main mast and foremast. Be- 
tween these masts is the blubber guy, a stout wire 
rope to which blocks are strapped, and through 
these are rove the tackles which haul the long 
strips of blubber on board as they are pulled off 
the whale. 

The specksioneer and all the harpooners except 
the mate get on to the whale or into the mollie 
boats in attendance; they have spikes on their 
boots to keep them from slipping; and they re- 
move the blubber and bone with their knives and 
spades. The mate of a ship is a busy man, but 
the mate of our whaler flensing was, I think, the 
busiest person I ever saw. Acting under the 
captain's directions and from his own initiative, 
he was everywhere, giving orders and seeing 
them carried out. 

In removing the blubber the first thing done 
is to start cutting a ribbon of it around the neck, 
called the kant. This piece, probably two feet 
wide, when pulled upon, turns the carcass, and 
from it, running towards the tail, the long strips 



162 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

are cut and hauled on board. First the piece 
around the neck is well started. Then with 
spades a strip is started. As this is hauled on by 
the capstan the men with spades cut along each 
side and it is simply peeled off. When the piece 
raised up is several hundred pounds, it is cut off, 
hoisted on board, and the tackle refastened. 
When the exposed part has been flensed, the neck 
piece or kant is again pulled on by the windlass, 
which turns the whale over a little, and so on. 
When all the blubber has been removed, the head 
tackle is cut out and the carcass, or kreng as it is 
called, sinks as soon as the tail is cut off. The 
tail is taken on board and used afterwards for 
chopping blubber on. The blubber as it comes 
on board is cut into smaller pieces by the boat- 
steerers and thrown into the 'tween-decks by the 
line managers, from which it is taken a day or two 
later, cut small and put into tanks. Flensing a 
fish is a very cheerful occupation and the ship 
is certainly oily, but there is no unpleasant 
smell. As soon as a whale is killed, the fulmar 
petrels (P. Glacialis) come in swarms, and they 
gorge themselves with fat until they cannot sit 
up; then they become dreadfully ill and begin 
all over again. There was always a current where 
we flensed and this current would carry away a 
stream of overgorged birds, too full to do any- 
thing but drift. I sat in a boat one day and 
amused myself catching the birds as they paddled 
past until I had numbers in the boat. I found it 
better, however, to leave them in the water, or 




Underwood. 



Flensing. Showing the smaller Boats 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 163 

to let them stagger about among the men's feet 
at work. This was a ten-foot fish and would prob- 
ably yield thirteen tons of oil. The following is 
a copy of the scale used long ago by whalers:— 

Bone in feet Oil in tons 

1 m 

2 3 

3 *V 2 

4 4 

5 4^ 

6 5^ 

7 7 

8 9 

9 11 

10 13 

11 16 

12 20 

Of course there are exceptions to this old rule. 

The afternoon clouded up while we were so 
busy, and by the time we had finished, it was 
blowing. When I turned in there was some snow 
and it was much colder. 

July 6th. Sunday. I found the ship with the 
main yard aback, dodging about in a rather 
choppy sea. The sky was cloudy and it looked like 
winter. Three ships were in sight down the 
Sound, all under canvas. We were quite close to 
the south side, as the captain believed that fish 
would come up that way, and it proved that he was 
correct. After breakfast a whale was seen blow- 
ing among some loose ice to the north of us. Six 
boats put off in pursuit, while the ship followed. 
Two of the boats kept straight to the ice while the 
other four, including Jack McLean's, in which I 
was, kept around it. The sea was quite choppy and 
the air cold, but we warmed up with the rowing. 



164 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

The boats going straight to the ice were able to 
pass through and entered open water beyond be- 
fore we got around to it. The fish came up and 
gave the second mate a long shot just as she 
was going down; but a harpoon easily enters a 
whale's bent back so he got fast and " A fall! 
a fall! " was joyfully shouted by us all. As we 
passed the fast boat we saw her jack flying 
proudly and her bow enveloped in smoke as 
McKechnie tightened the line around the bollard 
head. Gyles was standing by, so with the other 
boats we pulled in the direction the fish had gone, 
and as we were getting close to more loose ice, 
those of us who were rowing and consequently 
looking astern saw the fast boat— which had 
been well down by the bow— right herself and we 
knew that the iron had drawn. We pulled away 
however in the hope of again getting fast, but 
this whale was only seen once more, a long way 
off, and after a hard row through loose ice we gave 
up. The ship had followed and she now picked 
us up. As the wind had gone down we sailed 
back towards the south side and made fast to the 
solid floe, getting our bran boats out before tea 
time. We picked up the fast boat on the way, she 
having her lines on board. The weather looked 
very settled at bedtime and the unusual exertion 
of the past two days made me sleep well. 

July 7th. Monday. Summer had returned by 
morning and the making off had already begun 
when I came on deck. We were lying almost op- 
posite the mouth of Admiralty Inlet and fast to 




Main Deck of a Whaler while Flensing 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 165 

a nice straight floe edge with not a bit of loose 
ice any place. There was more life on deck at the 
" making off " than there was at the flensing and 
every one was busy. The blubber had been cut 
into pieces two or three feet square and put down 
the main hatch. These big cubes of a faint orange 
color were taken on deck with the winch, and any 
pieces of adherent flesh being removed they were 
cut into blocks of a few pounds each. Along each 
side of the deck stood uprights; on the top of 
each was a plate with spikes called a clash, and 
beside each stood a harpooner with a long sharp 
knife. A block of blubber was lifted by a man 
with clash hooks and stuck on the clash spikes, 
with the skin up. The harpooner cut the skin 
off and the piece was then thrown into a heap in 
front of the speck trough. The speck trough, which 
was about two and a half feet square, was placed 
across the deck over the hatch; forward of this 
stood the boat-steerers and in front of each was a 
block of whale's tail resting on the opened back 
lid of the trough. Each man had a chopper, and 
as the pieces of blubber from the heap were 
thrown to them, they chopped them into little bits 
and swept them into the speck trough, from which 
they were conducted to the tanks through a can- 
vas tube attached to an opening underneath. A 
man in the 'tween-decks directed this tube to the 
tank he desired to fill. The bone was stowed down 
the quarter hatch. It was always important to 
keep the ship clean and get the blubber away, as 
there was no regularity about the appearance of 



166 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

fish. A number might come at once, and several 
being killed, the crew could be blocked with work, 
while again there might not be another seen for 
a month. 

When the making off was over, the decks were 
scrubbed down. 

July 8th. Tuesday. The Arctic, Esquimaux and 
Narwhal were all in sight to the north of us. Dur- 
ing the forenoon we lowered away for a fish, six 
boats going after it. We saw the spout near the 
ice edge and were ready for its return, but it came 
not, probably finding a breathing place some- 
where and after resting coming out north of us. 
We waited a long time and had a tiresome row 
back. The native picked up by us when we first 
came had been landed near the south shore, where 
he had his dogs. Now we saw three coming along 
the floe and we picked them up, sledges, dogs and 
all. They belonged to Navy Board Inlet. Hardly 
were they on board when all hands were called 
and the boats were away, as spouting had been 
seen astern. I was in one of the four boats be- 
tween the ship and the south coast, and we must 
have sat there half an hour before anything oc- 
curred; in fact, we thought the fish had gone else- 
where. The men were all pretty restless, when 
suddenly the water broke two boats from me and 
the report of a gun was followed by the cry — " A 
fall." I saw the whale throw its tail straight up 
as it went slowly down; then it started north and 
we pulled past the ship in that direction and scat- 
tered out to wait its reappearance. In the usual 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 167 

length of time the fish appeared in our midst and 
another iron was put in. Away we went again 
in the best of spirits. Of course, the fast boat in 
each case remained and moved only as towed by 
the whale. I was in Watson's boat, and at the 
whale's next appearance we were almost on the 
top of it and he immediately lanced, but the game 
stood very little tickling of that sort and was soon 
off. Again it came up beside us, and this time very 
breathless as it had such a short breathing spell 
before. Three boats were at once busy with 
lances, and in a very short time we registered a 
kill. When the lines were cut, and the flukes and 
tail attended to, we returned to the ship, pulling 
to the shanty, " A-roving, a-roving, since roving 
has been my ruin," and having the whale in tow, 
we were very much elated by our afternoon's 
work, but there was a great surprise in store for 
us. Arriving on board, the whale was made fast 
and I went down to have some coffee. When I 
came up I found that the crew of the first fast 
boat, having taken their line to the ice to facilitate 
pulling it in, had utterly failed to get it beyond a 
certain point. Thinking it had fouled something 
at the bottom, they were ordered to come on board 
and take their line in with the steam winch. This 
was done, and when after great pulling the very 
tight line was almost in, behold, there was a dead 
whale at the end of it. One must be on board a 
whaler to appreciate a pleasant surprise like this. 
It is not so much the extra money, as the satis- 
faction of success. What had happened was this. 



168 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

The first harpoon fortunately struck deep in the 
shoulder of whale No. 1, which immediately 
sounded in shallow water and broke its neck. 
No. 2 was not a fast fish at all when we first 
saw it. Now, we had a fish on each side, and as 
soon as the crew had refreshed themselves with 
supper, the work of flensing started with a will. 
When things were well under way I turned in, 
very tired, and when I tumbled out four hours 
after, one fish was on board. The men were 
now ordered to turn in for four hours, except, of 
course, the lookout and a few nondescript people 
like myself and the engineer. I learned another 
thing about the ways of the Arctic this morning; 
directly the crew had turned in, the clock in the 
companion was put forward an hour, and when 
two hours had passed it went on another hour, 
then all hands were called and our second whale 
taken on board. This fish was flensed in about 
three hours, the crew turning in, except a boat's 
crew on the bran and the lookout. The Esquimaux 
came steaming towards us during the night, which 
annoyed us greatly, as the fish were coming up the 
south side and we thought our berth rather good. 
She steamed past and hooked on five or six hun- 
dred yards south of us. The Aurora immediately 
unhooked and passed her, while she repeated the 
performance mid a storm of abuse from both bar- 
rels. Our Captain was afraid to go closer to the 
shore, so we remained where we were. When we 
hooked on first, the natives had left us, going 
north to the other ships. We now saw a number 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 169 

of well loaded sledges coming up the south coast. 
It was evident that they would board the Esqui- 
maux first, so we would lose the chance of bar- 
tering with them. Consequently, we sent a boat 
off to pick them up and bring them on board. Our 
opponents saw what we were doing, so sent a boat 
also. As it had a shorter distance to go than ours, 
it picked up the whole caravan and brought it 
back. Our boat noticing a sledge far away with 
two people in it, waited for them and brought 
them to the Aurora. It happened that these two 
old natives owned all the barter on the other 
sledges, and as we kept them on board, every- 
thing had to be turned over to the Aurora by the 
other ship, greatly to their disgust. The Captain 
obtained from them quite a lot of narwhals' tusks 
and bear skins. The incident amused us very 
much. 

July 9th. Wednesday. Two boats on the bran 
and the balance of the crew washing down the 
ship. I had my first ride on an Eskimo sled. 
Giving a native a plug of tobacco, he removed 
from his sled all the movable things and I got on. 
Then addressing a few remarks to his dogs, off 
they started. As the ice was smooth I enjoyed it 
at first, but we came to a hummocky place where 
it was not so pleasant. I did my best to stop the 
dogs, but they followed their leader, and finally I 
tumbled off and returned to the ship, the dogs go- 
ing on probably home. The runners of the sledge 
were made of whales' jaws with bone cross pieces 
lashed to them. When I went on board I found 



170 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

a boat just starting for a bear to the north of us. 
I don't think I ever saw one any distance from 
the water; this was along the floe edge and sev- 
eral miles away. Between us there was a penin- 
sula of ice on which there were some hummocks. 
I landed here to try a stalk and the boat rowed 
around. For a time I did very well, the bear wan- 
dering aimlessly and slowly about, but before I 
got within three hundred yards of him, he had 
seen me and was off to the water. I fired several 
times, but without effect. He plunged in and 
started to swim across from the peninsula to the 
main floe. The boat had by this time doubled the 
cape and bruin had a bullet in his head before he 
had gone very far. We hauled him on to the ice 
and skinned him. The men cut some steaks for 
themselves, but I never had the pleasure of trying 
polar bear, as the Captain did not care for car- 
nivorous animals as a food. 

A great many white whales were now around. 
I wished we could have driven a school of them 
up a fiord the way they drive the potheads up the 
Shetland voes. When we returned we found that 
a narwhal had been killed, but we did not like to 
disturb the right whales by hunting these very 
much. 

As the ship was generally hooked on to the floe 
which extended across the Sound, her bow was 
pointed up and her stern down, consequently 
astern nearly always meant down the Sound, as 
the current setting in that direction held the ship 
in that position. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 171 



CHAPTER XV 

FLOE EDGE FISHING 

" Look through the sleet and look through frost, 
Look to the Greenlands' caves and coast. 
By the iceberg is a sail 
Chasing of the swarthy whale; 
Mother doubtful, mother dread, 
Tell us, has the good ship sped? " 

July 10th. Thursday. We moved from our 
neighbor, the Esquimaux, and dodged north un- 
der canvas, hooking on five or six miles away. 
The Sound was frozen completely across this year, 
and during our stay, the ice never opened. Prob- 
ably we could have forced our way in had we been 
bent on exploration, but the ice floe edge fishing 
was very desirable and suited us exactly. 

All hands were employed making off when I 
came up and we had a busy day getting two 
whales into our tanks. Although they were not 
very large, it took many hours and every one was 
tired when it was over. 

The Sound being frozen over was a great dis- 
appointment to me as it prevented our going up 
Barrow Strait, or visiting Beechy Island, where 
Sir John Franklin spent his last winter. There 
I was, within a few miles of the place consecrated 
to the memory of those heroes and doomed to re- 



172 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

turn home without seeing it. Up this waterway, 
Sir James Ross and McClure had passed to make 
their great discoveries of the magnetic polar area 
and the northwest passage. There had been, at 
one time or another, nearly all the Arctic ex- 
plorers, of whom I had ever heard. 

As the clock in the companion had been moved 
about so much lately, and as there was not a 
watch, on the ship, going, our ideas of time were 
vague in the extreme. 

July 11th. Friday. The weather was fine, and 
during the afternoon, positively warm. The boats 
spent the day on the bran, but there were no 
whales in sight. An interesting phenomenon was, 
however, in evidence, namely, refraction. Byam 
Martin's Mountains looked wild and precipitous, 
and the coast line appeared as a continuous high 
cliff, quite unlike the land we had been beside for 
the past week. What I found most interesting 
was to watch the Narwhal, which was lying not far 
off. At one moment her hull stretched up, making 
her look like an old line of battle ship, while her 
masts shrank down, then the hull would close 
down like a concertina and the masts would 
stretch up to the sky. Pieces of ice and little hum- 
mocks became great white chimneys and big icy 
mountains. I saw a row of white masses far above 
the ice. They looked like puffs of smoke from a 
battery, the guns being pointed up. Presently a 
white lump would appear on the ice underneath 
each pun 2 and in a minute they would become con- 
nected and look like a row of top-heavy white pil- 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 173 

lars. The middle part would then become atten- 
uated until it resembled a white thread and then 
the tops of the pillars would settle down and dis- 
appear. The changes were kaleidoscopic and one 
could watch them by the hour. When the sun was 
warm, we often had this phenomenon, owing to 
the different densities of the various atmospheric 
strata. 

July 12tJi. Saturday. Hearing " All hands " 
during the night, I tumbled out of bed, picked up 
my bundle of clothes, ran on deck and got into a 
lower quarter boat that was being lowered. Prob- 
ably within sixty seconds after being asleep I was 
pulling for dear life towards some loose ice north 
of us, beyond which a whale had been seen. When 
we reached the ice, we rested and put on some 
clothes. The fish was just as likely to come up 
where we were as at any other place, so we did 
not want to frighten him by disturbing the ice. 
After a wait of ten minutes, we saw and heard 
the blast of a fish to the northeast. It had turned 
and was going out again. We pulled through the 
ice with difficulty; it cannot be pushed about by 
a whale boat, but we kept on in the direction in 
which the whale was last seen. However it did not 
come up again where we could see it, and so we 
returned to the ship. It was very cold coming 
back and had begun to blow. 

The sky was much overcast during the after- 
noon, and as it was blowing hard, the boats were 
taken in before bedtime. 

July 13th. Sunday. There was a regular little 



174 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

gale this day, so we kept in open water, with the 
main yard aback and the fires banked. We re- 
ceived news of the Greely party from the Arctic 
as she had spoken some of the slower ships and 
heard it from them. 

During the afternoon quite a choppy sea was 
on and ice was coming in as the wind was blowing 
up the Sound. We dodged out through this ice 
and then sailed north, sighting nearly all the other 
ships of the fleet. Sundays were stormy days in 
this place, and to sit on a ship all day, listening 
to her strain, and to the wind howling through the 
shrouds, was not pleasant, especially when we 
were only killing time and accomplishing nothing. 
When I turned in, we were still under canvas. 

July 14th, Monday, was a gloomy day. We 
were hooked to the ice, with a boat out on each 
side. The crew were busy filling the bunkers and 
then cleaning up, also overhauling some fishing 
gear. The blacksmith was employed straighten- 
ing out harpoons. The iron of which they are 
made is soft and tough. It bends and twists every 
way but does not break. 

I amused myself polishing little tusks which I 
had taken out of the female narwhals' heads. We 
were very restless, knowing that the Arctic had 
more whales than we had. We heard from her 
that all the ships had fish a few days before. 

Tuesday. Two narwhals were killed, male and 
female. I was in a boat with the Captain, but we 
did not get any. We used paddles instead of oars, 
as we could approach more quietly with, them. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 175 

July 16th. Wednesday. We were still hanging 
on to the ice with a boat on the bran on each side. 
Again we pursued narwhals and secured another 
fine male with a four-foot horn. There were such 
crowds of these beautiful creatures that I wished 
the Captain would turn all hands after them, but 
he was afraid of disturbing any whales which 
might be around so we did not pursue them vig- 
orously. Some white whales passed us, but we 
were not far enough up the Sound for white 
whaling. 

Narwhals are playful creatures and very noisy. 
The first thing any whale does on coming up is 
to blow most of the air out of its lungs, and this 
in a very noisy manner. For its size, the narwhal 
makes more noise than the others. Before going 
down, they generally take a deep, noisy inspira- 
tion. Nearly all the time we were in Lancaster 
Sound, if calm, we could hear whales of some kind 
puffing and blowing around. I often saw nar- 
whals raise their tusks out of the water, and when 
black whales were taking a final header, on start- 
ing for a long dive, they generally threw the tail 
up in the air in a graceful manner. We did not 
like to see one going tail up, as it meant that 
probably we had seen the last of that particular 
fish. 

July 17th, Thursday, was a fine day with 
mirage in the morning; the effects were wonder- 
ful. A small piece of ice, miles away, would look 
like a berg. About noon we made out that the 
Polynia had a fish and this was more than we 



176 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

could bear. We decided that there was a Jonah 
on board and circumstances pointed strongly to 
one of the crew. A suit of his clothes was pro- 
cured, with his cap, half a pound of powder was 
packed into it with a fuse attached and it was 
run up to the main yard arm. The Captain went 
below and turned in, but rifles and ammunition 
were supplied and we had a lively practice at the 
effigy for a time; then the fuse was touched off 
and bang went Jonah. This performance cleared 
the atmosphere forward completely, every one be- 
lieving that the spell was broken and that we 
would now find fish. In the cabin, Jack, the stew- 
ard, greased the horseshoe and that made the 
after guard feel better, and to crown it all, a bear 
was killed during the evening, in the water near 
the ship. Personally, I felt greatly encouraged by 
these ceremonies, and went to bed feeling that at 
any moment " A fall! a fall! " might be heard. 

If some misfortune happens to a whaler— such 
as having his harpoon gun passed to him through 
the rigging, instead of around it, or if his boat 
should start away from the ship stern first and 
not be brought back, hooked on, hauled up and 
lowered again— then he would go after a whale 
certain that he would miss it, whereas, should he 
dream the night before that he had got fast to a 
fish, then he would approach it with the utmost 
confidence. 

July 18t%. Friday. I had an undisturbed night 
and awoke to find it blowing and the ship under 
sail. G-oing on deck, I found the topsails aback 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 177 

and much loose ice about. After breakfast, all 
hands were away after a whale seen among the 
loose ice. This was a hopeless kind of rowing, so 
we scattered about, following different leads. We 
saw the fish blowing in several different places, 
but could not get near it, so came on board. Dur- 
ing the afternoon, the wind went down and the 
loose ice drifted out again, so we hooked on to 
the solid floe about three miles from the south 
side and a boat was put on each side, as usual. 
Numbers of narwhals around during the after- 
noon, induced a boat to follow them, and a big fe- 
male was secured with a calf. The undeveloped 
tusks of the latter were hollow like cigarette hold- 
ers. 

July 19tJi. Saturday. I had not been asleep 
long when I heard " All hands! " and, rushing up, 
went off in my usual boat, the lower quarter boat 
on the starboard side. I heard that a fish had 
been seen spouting down the Sound. In a few 
minutes, we all saw it off the south shore, a mile 
from the ship. We gave way with a will and soon 
had the boats in open order along the floe, where 
we thought it had passed under. Our patience 
was rewarded when it came up between the mate 
and Watson. Mr. Adam, being the nearer, swept 
down on its quarter and, as it made a back to 
sound, he gave it both gun and hand in the shoul- 
der. This was a big fish and a fine chase began. 
I had seen the mate strike and I knew the irons 
would not draw. Straight down the Sound we 
went, the wounded animal taking out much line. 



178 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

Sometimes a fish goes deep and does not travel 
very far, but this one was a traveller. We pulled 
for about twenty minutes or more and then halted, 
the whale coming up ahead of us and going down 
again at once. The mate's boat had signalled for 
more lines by putting a piggin on a boat-hook, 
and another boat had stood by and bent on. Be- 
fore long, the wounded one came up and another 
iron was put in; it was well puffed after its run 
and stayed up long enough to get some lances 
stuck in. A lance, cutting any large vessel in the 
neck or thorax, would cause it to bleed to death 
very quickly, but none of these lances touched 
vital parts, for the whale went down in a very 
lively way with four or five sticking in it, and 
it must have stayed down fifteen minutes, trav- 
elling fast all the time. When it reappeared, we 
were on to it at once, and it soon began to blow 
blood and give other evidences of approaching dis- 
solution. Its plunges were dangerous and the re- 
ports caused by striking the water with its tail, 
were very loud. We always backed well off dur- 
ing one of these demonstrations, but were on to 
it at once when they ceased. There was much 
more danger from the flukes than the tail, as we 
were touching its sides with the boats. After one 
or two terrific blasts of blood and water, and a 
great flurry, it turned up its toes, and after the 
usual formalities, the long tow to the ship began. 
Shanties were sung with vigor and we pulled with 
a will. As I had not had anything to eat since 
ten P.M., the day before, and as we had been 



LOG of the /S'JS'- &ic4-<rz,tx- t~% c^iatBw c<x**-cz* £ o-^~*tiwartis 



H. Courses. 

•2t>.m.i 



10 
12 

2ajn. 
i 



K. i lOths. Winds. Lee Way Deviation; Remarks oi Sae»<^ (Ac /9 day o/vJ^-A. 18 S"^*- 
I r ' P.. • 



10 

12 noon 










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Page of a Whaler's Log 




A Fast Fish 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 179 

working hard all night, I was ready for breakfast 
when we reached the ship. The fast boats had 
come on board, taking their lines in with the winch. 
After breakfast all hands were called and it took 
many hours to flense this big fish, the bone of 
which was 10% feet. I examined the flukes after 
the blubber had been removed from them; they 
were like huge hands with nicely proportioned 
fingers. I entered in the log the death of the fish, 
and a little picture of its tail. This is the cus- 
tom. In the log there was a paper model, which 
was held on the page with the finger and traced 
around the edge with a pencil. Then it was 
shaded, according to the ability of the artist, 
and the name of the harpooner was written above. 
On each side was stated whether killed by gun or 
hand, or both, and below was written the length 
of the bone. Should the harpoon draw, and the 
whale be lost, half a tail was sketched. 

During the flensing, one of our firemen, Bob 
Graham, appeared at the engine room door with 
six pieces of rope yarn tied together, and to the 
free end of each he had fastened a piece of blubber, 
just big enough to pass comfortably through the 
throat of a mollie (as fulmars are called), either 
way. Graham was an ingenious fellow and re- 
markable for his fertility of resource; he was al- 
ways amusing himself by devising little surprises 
to make life pleasant for others. He threw this 
affair into the sea and the six pieces of fat were 
instantly swallowed by the same number of mol- 
lies. All went well until it became evident that 



180 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

the birds were not of the same opinion as to the 
direction of their next move. This performance 
seemed to me cruel at first, but after watching it 
for a little while, I decided that the exercise was 
good for the fulmars and did not hurt them. Of 
course, there were little disappointments con- 
nected with it, but then creatures, higher in the 
social scale, have their disappointments also. It 
is just possible that the bird which played the 
game out and eventually swallowed all six pieces 
and the string, may have had regrets, but from 
what I have seen of this particular species, I don't 
think it suffered much. 

When the flensing was over, every one was tired, 
and the men were ordered to turn in, excepting 
the lookout, all having been busy during the day. 
As whaling was a very irregular sort of life, it was 
the custom to sleep while one could, and as I had 
done a lot of rowing during the previous twenty- 
four hours, I sought my cabin. Our specksioneer, 
George Lyon, was an old man, but he was abso- 
lutely indefatigable, and when this order was 
given, he decided to go on the bran instead of 
to bed. Accordingly, he raised a crew of volun- 
teers, but being short one man, he thought of me. 
There was one way of always bringing me on deck 
and that was to go to the companionway and shout 
down the word " bear." This George did and I 
at once appeared, rifle in hand. Seeing the boat 
being lowered, I tumbled in, and in a minute we 
were away; I then asked where the bear was and 
the specksioneer said that we might see one; so I 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 181 

knew his trick. We went some distance south of 
the ship and, backing the boat up to the ice, laid 
the steering oar on it, which held us there, then we 
talked and smoked. 

About midnight all was quiet, except for the 
heavy breathing of the narwhals and white whales 
in the sea, and of those who slept in the boat; it 
was easy enough to sleep, sitting at an oar. I 
was awake, the boat-steerer was standing on the 
ice, and the man in the ship's barrel was scanning 
the Sound for fish, when suddenly, without the 
slightest warning, there was a great commotion in 
the water, at the side of our boat, and up came a 
whale with a fearful blast. This first blast of a 
whale, which has been holding its breath for a 
long time, sounds very loud, when one is within 
ten feet of it. It reminds one of a train coming 
suddenly out of a tunnel. The boat-steerer in- 
stantly pushed the boat well off, getting in at the 
same time He then said " Give way," which we 
did. The whale was moving very slowly, and one 
sweep of the boat-steerer's oar brought us around 
to it, then I heard the orders, " Stand by your 
gun! " and " Avast pulling! " I would have given 
anything for one look; but the lives of all the crew 
depended upon each man doing as he was told, so 
I sat perfectly still and leaned well away from the 
line running up the middle of the boat. Presently 
there was a bang, and the line began running out, 
while every one called " A fall." I was now in a 
boat, fast to a fresh whale, which was an experi- 
ence the average amateur rarely had. As the har- 



182 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

pooner took a turn of the line around the bollard 
head in the bows, and paid the line out through 
his hands, the bow of the boat was dragged very 
low and the stern tilted very high, but the speed 
we travelled at was not so great as I had expected. 
The whale came up between the boat and the ship, 
and we were being towed down the Sound. All 
the boats were away from the ship in a minute. 
We called out the number of lines out, and they 
had no difficulty in finding about where the whale 
was, and being ready for it when it came up. A 
second iron was put in when it appeared and off 
it went again. The water being absolutely free 
from ice, the chase was an easy one, as a boat 
could generally go faster than a whale. All I had 
to do was to sit quiet and keep well away from 
the line. As there was no ice to endanger the boat, 
the line was put several times around the bollard 
head and kept very tight, so we were towed much 
faster than if it had been loose. After the whale 
was killed and all the lines cut free, we were called 
■on board to have or lines hauled in, after which 
the ship unhooked and steamed off to pick up her 
boats. The sky was very much overcast when 
we brought the whale alongside, and the tired 
crew, after getting some food, had to flense at 
once, as a change of weather might have been 
serious. 

The Aurora now looked as a successful whaler 
should— a big whale in the 'tween-decks and an- 
other alongside tons and tons of blubber lying 
about everywhere, and the passage between the 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 183 

engine room and skylight, and the bulwarks, piled 
with bone. 

Before the flensing was over, it had commenced 
to blow and it was quite rough by the time we 
had finished. Then we unhooked and ran down 
the Sound a little way, while the crew turned in 
for a watch. As our main yard was aback, it re- 
quired very few men to handle the ship. All night 
we were dodging about. 

July 21st. Monday. For some time, the clock 
had not been watched. Had it been, it would have 
conveyed little information, because, when it 
suited, it was put backward or forward. When a 
man going to bed saw by the clock that it was 
midnight, and when he arose and saw by the same 
clock that it was six, he probably felt refreshed. 
In the end, o"f course, it would tell on him if the 
full amount of rest registered had not been ob- 
tained; but for a time it worked very well. It 
certainly took a long time to make off our two 
whales, and it gave us a substantial feeling to be 
able to say, " Five fish on board." When the 
decks were cleared up, the crew were ordered 
below, excepting the lookout, but shortly after, 
it came on to blow hard and the sky was much 
overcast. Later, some rain fell, so we unhooked 
and lay off the ice edge with the main yard aback. 



184 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



CHAPTER XVI 

WHALING IN LANCASTER SOUND 

" White, quiet sails from the grim icy coasts, 
That bear the battles of the whaling hosts, 
Whose homeward crews, with feet and flutes in tune, 
And spirits roughly blithe, make music to the moon." 

July 22nd. Tuesday. During the night the rain 
changed into snow and in the morning it was blow- 
ing a gale. In fact, it was a wild, winter's day. 
We were amongst loose ice, with our main yard 
aback and there was no open water to be seen any- 
where. During the day the snow ceased but the 
wind kept up until late in the afternoon, when we 
found ourselves in a triangular pool of water, the 
sides of the triangle being about half a mile long 
and the base, three or four hundred yards. The 
ship was anchored to one side and she lay parallel 
with the base and twenty or thirty yards away 
from it. This hole appeared to have been formed 
by large floes. It was quite free from ice and af- 
forded us an ideal harbor. 

July 23rd. Wednesday. All hands turned out 
shortly after four in the morning as a whale was 
seen at the apex of this triangle. One boat had 
been left fast to the ship's stern. This went in 
pursuit and the others lowered away, the one I 
was in being ordered to remain fast to a line from 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 185 

the ship's stern. Long before the boats reached 
the whale, it sounded and did not appear again, 
so they came on board, all but the one I was in. 
Our bows were towards the ship's stern and the 
boat's side was twenty yards from the ice edge. 
We had been there about an hour when, with a 
great commotion, a tremendous whale came up 
between the ship and the ice edge. Its head was 
alongside our boat before we realized what had 
happened; and by the time we had slipped the line 
the leviathan had passed us, as it was going fast. 
We could almost have touched him with the oars, 
but by the time we turned the boat and were under 
way, down went the fish to look for another 
breathing place elsewhere and we returned to 
our berths. Had the bow of the boat been the 
other way, we could have fastened the whale 
easily. 

At eight bells, we came on board for breakfast. 
Just as I entered the cabin, I heard the rushing 
on deck and, going up, found two boats off after 
a whale. It had simply come up to breathe and, 
having breathed, it went down again and disap- 
peared from our harbor. One boat remained at 
the apex of the triangle and the other returned; 
and, on the way, a fish came up a hundred yards 
in front of it. They pulled hard and took a long 
shot as it humped its back going down. They got 
fast and the whale went off under the ice. From 
the barrel, a small water hole could be seen half 
a mile away, and to this several ran, carrying a 
rocket gun which could be fired from the shoul- 



186 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

der. Before they had gone very far, however, the 
harpoon drew and, as there was no use firing rock- 
ets into a free fish, they came on board again. It 
was now blowing pretty hard and very cold, but 
we still kept a boat at the apex of the triangle and 
one beside the ship. Now occurred a very exci- 
ting race. A whale came up half way along one 
side of the hole, and was travelling slowly towards 
the base. The boat at the apex followed, the one 
by the ship did not move, and every man on board 
was watching what would happen. Reaching the 
base, the whale halted to take a few long breaths 
before going down, the boat rapidly neared, the 
whale humped its back and the boat had to fire. 
From where we were, we saw the harpoon fly up 
into the air with the foregoer wriggling after it, 
then it fell, missing the whale as completely as if 
it had not been fired at it. I was sorry for that 
harpooner. He was a big man from Aberdeen, 
with a yellow beard, and he was a nervous wreck 
when he came on board. This fearfully bad luck 
was maddening, and we were all on edge; for, 
though the place was swarming with whales, we 
never got one. Had we got fast to half a dozen, 
we would have lost them all through lines being 
cut by the ice, or fouling. 

By the evening, the wind had gone down and 
the ice was slacker, the whole east side of our 
pool moving away. 

July 24th, Thursday, was a beautiful day after 
the storm and we had open water astern once 
more. We unhooked after breakfast and steamed 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 187 

slowly towards the south side again, and while 
steaming, we sighted a whale down the Sound. 
The ship was anchored to the ice and the boats 
distributed in the usual way. This whale did not 
come up after being first seen until it was at the 
ice edge, when one of our boats got fast. It then 
went under the floe — a most unusual proceeding 
when it had lots of open water. We were along 
the ice edge, nearly a mile from the fast boat, and 
wondering what would happen next, when, in a 
very small hole, 150 yards from my boat, up came 
the head of the whale. The hole was not many 
times larger than the head. The under surface 
of the lower jaw was towards us. It had a very 
white appearance. The head turned around very 
slowly presenting a wonderful sight. Gyles, the 
harpooner, in whose boat I was, seized a rocket 
gun and, running to the hole, fired, and the head 
went down as slowly as it came up. Presently 
the fish appeared in the open water and was 
immediately harpooned again. Its experience 
under the ice, or Gyle's rocket, had affected it so 
that it did not remain down but soon came up 
again and submitted patiently to the lancing op- 
eration which ended its life. This removed the 
gloom caused by the awful luck of the previous 
day. We had now more than three tons of bone, 
and that alone would be a fair voyage. The flen- 
sing began just as soon as the crew had food and 
was not finished until bedtime. 

July 25th. Friday. Every one was cheerful. 
Some of the hands were cleaning bone, two boats 



188 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

were on the bran, and one after narwhals, as there 
were many of them about. 

I painted the figurehead, as the Aurora was 
looking a little dissipated with her out-stretched 
arm unhooked. This was only in commission when 
in port; consequently, it looked younger than her 
seagoing arm, which was a fixture across her 
breast and which had stood the brunt of many 
gales. 

July 26th. Saturday. All hands were " ma- 
king off: " the fish. They were at it early and had 
finished by noon, and then there was a general 
clean up for Sunday, but strict watch was kept. 
There were only white whales and some narwhals 
around. The tusks we took from those we killed 
and those we had bartered for, always lay on the 
after grating, which covered the well down which 
the auxiliary propeller went; there was never 
enough motion to roll them off:. 

July 27th. The usual Sunday gale was blowing 
and we were dodging about under canvas all day. 
I was out on a yard during a snow squall and 
found it very exciting. This was my first attempt 
at taking in sails when there was much wind. We 
spoke the Narwhal; she had seven whales and 
reported the Arctic as having eight and all 
the rest well fished. Towards evening we 
sailed to our favorite fishing ground on the south 
side. 

July 28th. Monday. All hands were away after 
a whale at six A. M. We had a long pull, and lost 
her for a time amongst the loose ice. Rounding 




Underwood. 



Heave away Capstan 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 189 

this, however, we reached her again and the mate 
got fast, McLean putting in a second. We passed 
both boats and were in at the kill. When we had 
backed off: once for a flurry, I looked around and 
saw Watson lancing. I thought the flukes would 
have smashed his boat, he took such awful chances. 
This whale rolled about a great deal, and bristled 
with lances which she had torn from the men's 
hands by rolling. She was also dreadfully tan- 
gled up with lines which had caught on the 
lances. There is sometimes danger from being 
caught under these lines and cut in two. When 
a dead whale is lying on its back, the abdomen lies 
very low in the water, and, when freshly killed, 
sinks with a man when he walks along it. As we 
were a long way from the ship, she came after us 
and we soon had the whale alongside. The cap- 
stan was used for taking on board the big blanket 
pieces. At the order, " Heave away capstan," a 
shanty was struck up by the men marching around. 
They sang so loud that we could often hear their 
weird songs coming over the water from other 
ships similarly engaged. Our friends, the fulmar 
petrels, were always with us upon occasions of 
this kind, and all that were in the Sound, I think, 
spent the day with us. 

The outer skin of the whale is about as thick 
as stiff: paper, and black. It peels off! readily, and 
the men cut book markers out of it. Under this 
comes a layer, nearly an inch thick, of rather gel- 
atinous stuff, which the Eskimos eat raw, then 
the blubber between this and the superficial fascia, 



190 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

by which the body heat is preserved. It took us 
practically all the rest of the day to flense. 

July 29th. Tuesday. We had a visit from two 
natives; they were prosperous looking people 
with a good sled and dogs. I admired the protec- 
tion from the sun which they wore. It was a piece 
of wood with a slit cut in it. This was very effi- 
cacious, but unbecoming. We learned from these 
people that many whales had been seen by them 
this year. They had some bear skins with them 
for trade, and some walrus ivory. This was much 
inferior to the narwhal ivory, which was very 
fine and was worth, at this time, I think, one pound 
ten per pound, that of the walrus being only worth 
half a crown. I had a long walk with a gun but 
did not see anything. 

July 30th. Wednesday. All hands " making 
off." I tried to skin a fulmar, but could not do 
it, it was so fat. I wanted a skin badly, but this 
was too much for me. All the birds we killed were 
fat, a provision of nature against cold. The men 
said, however, that they could not wear oil soaked 
clothes in cold weather. 

I was in the " crow's nest " a good while. It 
was most difficult to see anything at a distance 
owing to the mirage. During the afternoon I tried 
to shoot some narwhal near us. I shot at their 
heads with a rifle from the boat, and although they 
had sometimes been killed with the rifle, so little 
of the head showed when the beast was lying on 
the surface, that I fancy they must have been shot 
from the ship, which stood high. 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 191 

July 31st. Immediately after breakfast, four 
boats were away after a whale. I remained on 
board and watched from the barrel. It was a long 
pull and the whale got away amongst loose ice 
without giving the boats a chance. We captured 
a female narwhal in the afternoon. 

August 1st. Friday. Lovely day but very cold. 
In the morning I was sitting on the after grating, 
scraping a bear's skull, when a hundred yards or 
so astern of us arose a whale with the usual blast. 
The water was like a mirror and the fish lay there 
for several minutes and breathed heavily. No one 
spoke or moved. There in front of us was a fine 
whale, its jet black head and back showing up 
well and reflected on the absolutely glassy surface 
of the sea. When it slowly sank with its head 
towards us, we knew it would go under the ice, 
but we would not lower away until we were sure 
it was under. I was leaning over the after rail, 
peering into the water, when I saw the whale 
coming slowly under where I was standing. I 
first noticed a large, gray bow coming towards 
me; it was the under jaw, and as it passed beneath 
the vessel I could see distinctly the large round, 
dark spots on the huge lower lip. It passed a very 
short distance under our keel. There was no 
movement of either flukes or tail. I watched the 
great horizontal tail in the hope of seeing some 
movement. Only the man in the " crow's nest " 
and I alone saw the fish passing under the ship, 
and as soon as we were sure that it was safe, the 
boats went away as noiselessly as possible and we 



192 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

waited for the result with bated breath. It came 
up almost beside the ship and Jimmy Watson put 
in both gun and hand harpoons, then came the 
joyful shout " A fall," and we started down the 
Sound. As the fish was well fastened, it was safe 
to snub the line around the bollard head of the 
boat; there was no fear of the irons drawing and 
it made a heavy drag on the whale. The line, in 
running out, passes through the hands of the har- 
pooner before going around the bollard head. Of 
course, he wears several pairs of mittens, but these 
are generally torn to pieces. Our friend shortly 
came to the surface rather exhausted, as the line 
had been well snubbed, but Thor put another iron 
into him. This smarted and one could have heard 
his tail strike the water miles away. He lashed it 
with such force that no boat could go close; and 
before a rocket could be fired into him, he was off. 
This time the drag was very heavy, for he had two 
boats. It did seem absurd that this huge monster, 
more than sixty feet long and forty around the 
waist, could be conquered by having those little 
bits of harpoons stuck in with their little threads 
of lines attached, but whales of this species are 
clumsy and stupid and turn very slowly, and it is 
this inability to turn fast that proves their undo- 
ing. Upon appearing the next time, a rocket was 
instantly fired into a vital place and the final flurry 
came at once and made lancing unnecessary. The 
row back was a pleasure, and our joyful shanties 
could be heard for a long distance. We were 
alongside by midday, and after dinner, flensing 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 193 

commenced. I amused myself again with the ful- 
mars. Getting a boat, I laid my left elbow over 
the side so that I could look between it and the 
gunwale. Every time a fulmar came under, I 
darted my right hand over, catching him by the 
neck and taking him on board. When I had a 
great flock of them, I put them on the poop, 
around which there was a base board about four 
inches high, and above this the iron railing. The 
birds had eaten so much blubber that they could 
not get over the base board. One had to be careful 
of bites, as they had the curved, pointed bills pe- 
culiar to the albatross, shearwater and other birds 
of this tribe. It is curious that the great albatross 
and diminutive storm petrel, the wren of the sea, 
should belong to the same species. In a very short 
time, I saw the advisability of throwing my flock 
of pets overboard. We did not go below for sup- 
per until the fish was flensed. 

August 2nd, Saturday, was cold and cloudy, but 
no wind. We were hooked on with two boats on 
the bran; all hands making off during the after- 
noon. 

August 4th. Monday. Three of the four boats 
were after a whale among some loose ice to the 
north of us. One boat got fast and all immediately 
lowered away. When we reached the ice, naviga- 
tion became difficult and the fish came up where 
we could not touch it. Several boats came out of 
the ice and tried to row around. Ours was one of 
these ; then we found that the harpoon had drawn 
and the whale had vanished. We pursued some 



194 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

distance down the Sound and had nothing for our 
trouble but exercise. 

August 5th. Tuesday. Much loose ice in the 
Sound, caused by wind during the night. Narwhal 
were abundant, and two boats went after them 
with no result. Later the ship unhooked and 
steamed east looking for open water. I spent a 
long time in the " crow's nest," and, as there was 
no mirage, got a beautiful view of the south coast 
—very wintry at bed time. 

August 6th. Wednesday. The rushing of feet 
overhead brought me to the deck on a gloomy cold 
morning, and before I had time to add anything 
to the clothes in which I slept, we were a mile 
from the ship. A whale had been seen some dis- 
tance to the north and four boats pursuing it. 
We paused and put on some more clothes to keep 
out the keen Arctic air, and then we went off 
again, as the whale had come up. Long before the 
leading boat got near, it had disappeared, but we 
were not discouraged, so kept on, and this hard 
work continued until we were far from the ship 
and getting amongst pans of loose ice. The whale 
we were following was a fast traveller and we were 
ultimately obliged to give up the chase and return. 
The row back was long and wearisome, and when 
I reached the ship I had my long delayed break- 
fast and retired, but the moment I turned in to 
my berth, the rush above told of more whales in 
sight, so I went on deck. A fish had been seen 
blowing a long way down the Sound and six boats 
were away, but bed appealed to me more than an- 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 195 

other long pull, so I returned to it and remained 
there until the following morning. Our boats did 
not get a shot but had a long chase and did not 
return until very late. 

The day was cold and the density of the atmos- 
phere uniform, so I was able to see all the other 
ships distinctly with the glass. Some swell had 
broken up the edge of our floe and some pieces had 
been driven up the Sound, so it looked more icy 
than any day since the time when all the whales 
came. During the afternoon we hooked on to a 
large floe. The Polynia and Esquimaux were near 
us, but to the south; the Arctic was some distance 
down the Sound. Swarms of white whales were 
about us in the open places. 

August 7th. Thursday. The loose ice was gone. 
We had unhooked during the night and steamed 
west to the fast floe. I went up to the barrel and 
the Captain went down to get his pipe. While 
gazing at distant things, I heard a noise on deck 
and, looking over, saw all hands lowering away 
for two whales astern of us. I must have been 
looking in another direction when they appeared, 
because the first I knew of it, was the noise below. 
Our boats lay about half on each side and were 
playing the usual waiting game. The Captain 
came up to the barrel and I went down, but too 
late to enter a boat, as they had all gone, except 
the two upper quarter boats. This was a great 
disappointment to me, as I had assisted in killing 
every whale we had taken on board. After a 
while, one fish came up on the south or port side 



196 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

and was fastened by the farthest south boat. The 
whale went under the ice, but came Out nearer the 
ship and was fastened again. This proved the 
worst whale we had seen. It did not go down 
again but rolled about so much and slapped the 
water with its flukes to such an extent that the 
boats were rather afraid of it. This went on for 
a long time, when the Captain called out that he 
would kill it himself, so he came down and ordered 
the port upper quarter boat launched. All boats 
had their gear ready, whether we used them or 
not. A crew of irregulars was called, the Cap- 
tain as harpooner, myself next, the sailmaker 
next, third engineer, cooper, etc. The Captain 
went up at once and, driving a lance into the 
whale's neck, began churning it up and down. 
The fish allowed itself to sink a few feet, and the 
bows of the boat glided over it as the Captain held 
on to the lance. Then coming to the surface again, 
it tumbled the boat over on its starboard side and 
instantly gave a great blast from its lungs. My 
oar came out of the water, so I let it go and, grasp- 
ing the seat with my right hand and putting my 
left on the whale's back, I got the full charge of 
blood and water over my side and shoulder, as I 
was almost over the blow-hole, and such was the 
force, that my thick pilot coat was soaked with 
blood, and also the thick coat underneath. I saw 
the sailmaker, who was in front of me, turn 
around; his face was green, in spite of the tan. 
He was almost in the water. The boat, fortu- 
nately, slid off the slippery neck and a serious acci- 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 197 

dent was averted. The great danger would have 
been from being caught between the whale and the 
many lines it had wound around itself. After this, 
a couple of rockets were put in and the most troub- 
lesome fish of the season gave up its ghost. As 
all this happened beside the ship, we were saved 
the usual tedious tow, and in an hour flensing was 
commenced. It was six when we had all on board. 
The second whale did not reappear— probably 
finding a breathing place in the floe. The sky was 
overcast at bedtime and there was a bitterly cold 
wind. Having the engines aft made a great dif- 
ference to the temperature of the cabin, as the 
bulkhead between the pantry and engine room 
was always hot. 

August 8th. Friday. ,We were off Cape Hay 
when I came on deck and sailing east under top- 
sails. This cape was a wonderful place for looms. 
They bred there in thousands ; but we did not land 
or go very close, so I had no chance of seeing much. 

Quite a number of the ships had already left 
the Sound, among others the Arctic. Her captain, 
having secured thirteen black whales, had decided 
to try his luck in Repulse Bay, Fox Channel, 
where he had had former success. Owing to the 
amount of ice in the Sound and on the west coast, 
he had come to this decision. Consequently he 
had sailed to Hudson's Straits, passing from Fro- 
bisher Bay through Gabriel Straits and encounter- 
ing the dreadful current for which the neighbor- 
hood is noted. Ice was met with about Salisbury 
Island, and beyond this he was unable to take his 



198 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

ship, so lie returned to Cumberland Gulf and from 
there home without adding to his cargo. 

Lancaster Sound was beginning to look and feel 
like winter, the weather being very frosty. The 
mountains on the south side, which are about two 
thousand feet high, were very white, as a number 
of snow storms had passed over them. We were 
anticipating with pleasure a visit to Pond's Bay 
and the points usually called at on the west coast. 
One can generally take a ship by Navy Board 
Inlet through Eclipse Sound to Ponds Bay, but 
this year the ice precluded such a trip. 

We kept under sail, to save our coal, and ended 
on Wollaston Islands at the entrance of Navy 
Board Inlet, without having seen any whales. 
Here we hooked on to a large floe. 

August 9th. Saturday. After breakfast all 
hands were called to make off. It was a very 
cheerful performance, our men being in good 
spirits. The day was bitterly cold, but work kept 
them warm. Ice formed where the sun did not 
strike the water as there was hardly any wind to 
disturb it. 

By dinner time the whale was made off and dur- 
ing the afternoon the watch employed cleaning up. 
We remained hooked on all night. 

Sunday was a bitterly cold day and blowing a 
little, so we went further down the sound under 
topsails. About ten A. M. we sighted a whale and 
sent four boats in pursuit. I was in the second 
mate's. After a long chase the mate got fast. 
There was much ice about, so it was dangerous 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 199 

work for the fast boat, as it was impossible to 
avoid the pieces when being towed, and should the 
boat strike a floe it would be smashed at once and 
all hands would have to jump. 

When the fish came up first there was no boat 
near, but on coming up a second time Watson got 
in an iron and we had a very lively run down the 
Sound. With two harpoons in, there was a consid- 
erable drag on, and in a short time she reappeared 
and a boat was soon lancing. 

Our boat had been delayed by pieces of ice, so 
that it was late when we arrived on the scene. 
However this was a very vital whale and difficult 
to kill. I saw our specksioneer Lyon's boat al- 
most smashed by one of the flukes during a flurry. 

The perfectly fearless old man was so absorbed 
in his lancing operations that he did not notice 
the fluke coming, and but for the quick action of 
his boat-steerer, an accident would have occurred. 

The ship had followed us, so we had no towing 
when the battle was over, as she picked the boats 
up, taking- the whale with her to a floe where she 
anchored. Two more boats had been lowered away 
when they heard " A fall " called. One had gone 
to help the mate with more line, and the other had 
taken part in the chase. 

After having something to eat, flensing was the 
order of the day, our cheerful crew singing with 
great spirit to the orders " Heave away capstan " 
and " Heave away windlass." This, our tenth 
whale, was a heavy one and it was late when we 
got it all on board. 



200 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

The ship remained at the floe all night, drifting 
with it down the Sound. 

Monday, the 11th, was a wintry day, bitterly 
cold and an overcast sky. During the afternoon 
we had some snow squalls. We dodged about 
under topsails, but did not see even a narwhal. It 
was evident that our chance of catching white 
whales this year in Prince Regent Inlet was small. 
We anchored to the ice off Cape Liverpool at night. 

Tuesday, August 12th, all hands were engaged 
making off in the morning and doing a general 
clean up during the afternoon. 




West Side Woman's Boat 




A Beautiful Berg 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 201 



CHAPTER XVII 

LANCASTER SOUND TO DUNDEE 

> ," To claim the Arctic came the sun, 
With banners of the burning zone 
Unrolled upon their airy spars. 
They froze beneath the light of stars, 
And there they float, those streamers old, 
Those Northern Lights, forever cold." 

The neighborhood of Cape Byam Martin was 
considered good whaling ground, so we spent the 
next few days cruising off it and the coast further 
down, but without seeing anything of interest. 
Even seals were scarce. It was remarkable how 
few we saw north of the Arctic circle. 

By going aloft, one could always see, in some 
direction on the ice, a black dot, which represented 
a seal, but after the tens of thousands seen on the 
coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, they were 
scarce indeed; in fact, I never shot one during the 
whole northern trip. 

We found Ponds Bay that paradise of the old 
whalers so full of ice that we were unable to visit 
the natives, which was a great disappointment to 
us all. It was a bad year for seeing much of the 
land as there was so much ice coming down. 

From the ship, the line of the shore looked 



202 A VOYAGE TO THE AECTIC 

straight, except off the bay, but there were great 
fiords running into the land for miles. One of 
them, known as " Hell's Kitchen," had been a 
noted place for whalers. Two branches of it, 
named respectively, " Morris " and " Cooney " 
extended far into the country, one of them having 
been navigated by Captain Guy for about forty 
miles. 

Ponds Bay was a celebrated place for salmon 
fishing, the whalers often getting wonderful 
catches there, thereby improving their menu 
greatly. At this time, the weather was very win- 
try, frost and snow reminding us of where we 
were, and by the night of Sunday, the 17th, we 
were only off Cape Bowen. 

Monday was a beautiful day and we were fast 
to the shore floe, a long way from the land. The 
Captain decided to improve the shining hour by 
having the ship painted, so the boats were put 
upon the ice and the men employed, cleaning and 
painting. The Aurora was comparatively new, so 
it was very easy cleaning her, as her woodwork 
was good and she had been well kept up. Even 
washing her down with the alkaline solution used 
gave her a nice appearance. By evening, a great 
deal had been accomplished and inside she looked 
very neat. 

The little auks were numerous about here. One 
of our firemen killed three with a broom handle 
and I shot a fine bag. There was a good flight of 
ducks along the floe edge and I had several shots 
at them. As the birds were young, they were 




Little Auk 




A Baffin Land Harbour 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 203 

worth having, being free from the fishy flavor 
peculiar to their parents. 

August 19th. We finished painting the boats, 
but left them on the ice, excepting two from which 
the lines had not been removed. 

Our fishing, so far, had nearly all been floe edge. 
We had not entered the middle pack very far, 
where the whales were sometimes numerous at 
this season. The enormous amount of ice made 
the Captain think twice about pushing his ship, 
with her valuable cargo, into it, and so we kept 
quietly down the coast, occasionally going out a 
little where the ice was loose, but remembering 
Sir Leopold McClintock's winter in the middle 
pack with the Fox. 

The southwest fishing, to which we were now 
going, was generally prosecuted in the autumn. 
The ships lay at anchor in some harbor, and every 
morning the boats rowed out and watched for 
whales. It was cold, dreary work and very un- 
popular with the men; but whales killed late in 
the season were often large and well worth look- 
ing for. 

August 20th. Wednesday. The boats were 
hoisted up this day and, with the Captain, I went 
on the ice to look at the ship. It was cold and I 
had on half -boots, a thick double-breasted monkey 
jacket, with leather gauntlets and a leather seal- 
ing cap. We walked to where the painting had 
been done and there admired the ship. She looked 
well, sitting rather down by the stern. All the 
crew, practically, had been standing on this ice 



204 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

for the last two days and nothing had happened. 
I went rather close to the edge and the piece I 
was standing on gave way and I went down at 
once, but on coming up, with one or two strokes, 
reached the ice edge. It took some seconds for 
my clothes to soak as I had so much on, and by 
that time, one of the men, Jock Fairly, came with 
a boat hook, by the help of which I was pulled out. 
My clothes were so completely water-logged that, 
without assistance, getting out would have been 
impossible. Again the gentle warmth of the top 
of the boiler proved a comfort. 

August 21st. Thursday. Hooked on, with a 
stiff breeze blowing and the sky overcast. Ducks 
were flying in great numbers past a point half a 
mile away, so, taking the dingey, I went off to 
it. There was no shelter and, although every bird 
must have seen me, the silly things would not 
leave the ice edge, but would just swing out far 
enough to make my shots effective. This shooting 
both barrels into the " brown," as the ducks 
passed, was not so much fun as getting them in 
pairs, but one soon picks up a good bag, and as I 
was shooting for the pot, a bag was what I wanted. 
When I came on board, the birds were tied in bun- 
dles and hung up on the davit guys above the 
quarter boats. 

August 22nd. During the afternoon, a bear was 
seen, so we went off in a boat to capture it. As 
there was no solid ice, the beast had to get out 
of and into the water so many times that he could 
not escape, and he was killed from the boat by 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 205 

the mate. I landed and tried to stalk him, but he 
left my pan and I could not follow him. 

Two ships were in sight southeast of us. One of 
them was the Cornwallis, which we had not seen 
for some time. I was anxious to get near her as 
Armitage was on board, but she was a long way 
off. We always knew the other, the Esquimaux, 
by her mizzentop, as she had once been a full- 
rigged ship, although now a barque. 

On Saturday, the wind blew a gale, which kept 
us dodging under the canvas; but by Sunday the 
weather had improved. 

During the morning we sailed up to the shore 
floe, as we saw some natives there, and picked 
them up. They had tusks and dog skins for trade. 
We took them, with their dogs and sledges, on 
board. One of them was a good-looking, pleasant 
native, called Enu. He added greatly to my Es- 
kimo vocabulary during the next few days, and he 
told me that deer were plentiful in certain places 
and that salmon abounded. We steamed south all 
day, after picking up the natives, the weather 
being cold but fine. 

August 25th. Monday. Steaming down the 
coast and the weather quite fine. During the 
afternoon, a black spot inshore indicated the 
mouth of a river. The shore floe at this point was 
a mile wide, but the ice was smooth. A boat and 
the dingey with a net and ten men were sent to 
try to catch some salmon. A number of men were 
sent to haul the boats across the floe to the open 
water of the river mouth, and the natives came 



206 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

also. Mr. Adam took the boat and I took the 
dingey. ,We had a boat's sail, plenty of coal, two 
ship's kettles, coffee, sugar, salt, biscuits and tins 
of mutton. Arriving at the open water, our help- 
ers returned to the ship, and the natives, after 
turning their sleds upside down, so that the dogs 
could not run away with them, came with us in 
the boats. We rowed into a river, which was 
about thirty or forty yards wide at the mouth, 
shallow and placid. We went up a short distance 
and camped on the right bank. Above our camp, 
the river was a nice-looking little salmon stream; 
but below, it was more pretentious looking on 
account of its width. The net was drawn, with no 
result. It was tried in another place without get- 
ting a fin. Then, as it was growing late, we re- 
turned to camp. Tying two oars together, with 
their blades crossed, we laid the end of the long 
steering oar between these and this gave us an 
excellent frame for our tent, completed by throw- 
ing the large square boat's sail over it and tucking 
two of the corners underneath. Then a fine coal 
fire was started, a kettle of coffee made, and an 
excellent hash prepared, by mixing tinned mutton, 
sea biscuits, snow, pepper and salt. We enjoyed 
this thoroughly and I sat by the camp fire after- 
wards and listened to these men tell tales of hap- 
penings in former years. Thus, on the unhospita- 
ble shores of Baffin Bay, I had my first experience 
of camp life. After awhile I noticed that in spite 
of my clothing, my back was cold, so I turned it 
to the fire. Then my face was nearly frozen, so 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 207 

I turned back. In the excitement of starting, I 
had thrown a rug into the boat and not thought of 
blankets. Now I began to wish I had brought 
some, for I spent a miserable night, waking up 
very often with the cold. 

August 26th. At last the tedious night came to 
an end, and breakfast thawed us out and made 
things look more cheerful. The day was fine, so 
the Aurora was safe, and preparations were made 
for further fishing. Had the morning looked 
threatening, the ship would probably have sig- 
nalled us to come on board. I am a keen fisher- 
man, but the net did not appeal to me very much; 
so I decided to see what the country looked like 
and, taking Enu with me, went up the river. The 
bitterly cold night had caused some ice, so the men 
waited for a higher sun to dissipate this before 
we left camp. I found the country flat, as a whole, 
with low hills in the background. The native gave 
me to understand that beyond these hills was the 
caribou country, but one dared not risk going far 
from the ship, and so my chance of bagging a 
barren land head was small. Little gulches led 
away from the river, on the exposed sides of which 
there was no snow, but boggy ground and bad 
walking; while on the shady sides the ground was 
frozen and covered with patches of snow. I saw 
some places on the river which made me long to 
try the fly, and I am sure good sport could have 
been obtained. After a very tiresome walk of 
some hours, during which I did not see a bird or 
beast, I returned to camp. On coming close, I 



208 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

saw a man walking from the river with a salmon 
in each hand, the first two canght. They had tried 
a number of places and had caught only these, so 
they sent them to camp for dinner. One was 
put in a big ship's kettle to boil, and the other 
split and cut into pieces which were hung around 
the fire on stakes made from driftwood. Each 
salmon weighed about ten pounds, the flesh being 
very red, and while they did not compare with 
those from home rivers, we considered them ex- 
cellent, as they were the first fresh fish we had 
had on the voyage. Leaving camp, I went down 
to the boat and found they had just taken a splen- 
did haul; the net was shot several times and a 
grand total of 108 fish counted out. Dinner was 
ready when we reached the fire and some more 
fish were staked out to cook. 

This delicate repast over, our things were car- 
ried down to the boats and we made our way 
back as we had come. Seeing us from the ship- 
help had been sent to bring the boats across the 
ice. 

Many of the whalers fish for salmon every year 
and sometimes catch great numbers. The best 
place is, as stated before, a river flowing into 
Ponds Bay. Here several thousands are often 
taken. 

The Eskimo dogs had eaten their harness and 
gone away, excepting two lame fellows, and the 
natives made these pull them to the ship. 

August 27th. Wednesday. Enu, with his me- 
nage, left for home, and after breakfast we un- 




Enu in the Center 




A Baffin Land Belle 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 209 

hooked, and stood along the floe edge. From the 
" crow's nest " I saw with the glass a number of 
Eskimo sledges travelling north. They made 
no attempt to come near us, but kept close to the 
shore. At noon we were going among some loose 
ice, so hooked on. I had a very pleasant afternoon 
at the ducks and secured a good bag. All the birds 
killed were young eider. In fact, on the voyage, 
I only killed three varieties of duck, eider, king 
eider and long tail. 

August 28th. Thursday. Two sledges with na- 
tives came off. There was a very hungry woman 
with them. I saw her picking at everything soft 
on board. She found the side of a box in which 
plug tobacco had been packed, and picked it up; 
there were some leaves of tobacco adhering to it. 
I saw her picking pieces of them and eating them. 
Dividing the 'tween-decks from the lower fore- 
castle, there was a partition with a door. Just 
outside of this door stood a barrel into which the 
cook threw refuse from the gallery, which was 
just within the forecastle. I saw this polar Amer- 
ican beauty put her arm into the barrel and bring 
forth a duck's skin, which had a tremendous coat- 
ing of fat. She seized the skin with both hands and 
pulled the fat off with her teeth, devouring it 
greedily. When she came to the neck, she chewed 
it, bones and all. There were some most interest- 
ing children on board and they thoroughly en- 
joyed the coffee and biscuit with which they were 
supplied by the Captain's orders. We got some 
dog skins and small articles from these people, 



210 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

but they had already been visited by some of the 
ships and their bear skins and horns taken. 

August 29th. On Friday the natives left us 
early. We unhooked and sailed east, with a breeze 
from the south. We saw a bear and cub on the 
ice, so lowered away and went after them. Both 
took to the water, and we had to go around a large 
island of ice before we could reach them. I landed 
on this, and running across, tried a shot at them 
in the water, but they had gone too far and were 
behind hummocks of ice, so that I could not see 
them. The boat then overtook them and the mate 
shot both. As nothing more was seen among the 
loose ice we steamed to the floe edge and hooked 
on. I bagged a few ducks in the evening. 

August 30th. Saturday. We steamed down the 
coast and hooked on off Cape Raper. Two natives 
came on board, and we bought a live fox from 
one of them. It was young and blue, and spent the 
rest of the voyage walking about the funnel casing, 
where its home was in a lime-juice box. The na- 
tives left during the afternoon and we remained 
at the floe edge all night. 

It was a beautiful calm Sunday and the last day 
of August on which we arrived at Cape Kater. 
The Cornwallis very soon afterwards came in and 
I went. on board at once. 

They had had a most unsuccessful voyage as 
the ship had been spoiled for sailing by having 
an engine put in which was of no use. They had 
killed a whale and picked up a dead one, having 
one ton of bone from the two. 



\ 




Underwood. 



West Side Mother and Child 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 211 

Poor old Captain Nichol was very much de- 
pressed. Every one said lie was a fine sailor; that 
his blood was tar and his flesh rope yarns. They 
told us that the other ships had done well, the 
Nova Zembla having eight, the Polynia six and 
the Esquimaux ten whales when last seen. 

Armitage came on shore with me and we visited 
some native habitations. They were tents made of 
skin, and the sun beating on them made them 
warm inside; but as there was not a particle of 
ventilation, the odor was the worst possible. We 
saw in them the stone lamps in which the seal oil 
was burned, moss being used as a wick; sometimes 
old tins served the purpose instead of stone. 

This country is generally called Baffin Land. 
There is, however, no reason to believe that it is 
not divided up by channels into many islands. 
No doubt passages exist connecting Davis Straits 
with Fox Channel. 

Much of the coast line is uncharted, especially 
north of Fox Land. Fiords running south from 
Eclipse Sound have been visited by whalers, but 
not explored; possibly they could be traced to 
Fury and Hecla Straits. 

Whaling stations have several times been es- 
tablished on the west coast, at Exeter Sound and 
Cumberland Gulf— the first party wintering at 
the latter place in 1852, to the detriment of the 
natives. 

These improvident people with modern rifles 
would kill all the game they could shoot, use what 
they required at the time and waste the rest, 



212 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

whereas in old times they could just secure enough 
for their wants. 

Again, children were brought up formerly in a 
hardy way, and taught how to wrest a living from 
the inhospitable country. Now by loafing around 
a settlement they acquire some of the pernicious 
habits of civilized men, and learn to depend upon 
the European and his ship, forgetting that these 
might be withdrawn at any time. 

Monday was spent wandering about, but with- 
out seeing anything of interest. The Comwallis 
was still hooked on when we left Cape Kater, on 
Tuesday. We kept away from the coast to look 
for a berg from which we might water. The 
weather was clear and frosty, and at night the 
aurora borealis was very beautiful. 

September 3rd. Wednesday. We found a floe 
fast to the base of a very large berg, and on this 
there was a lake of fresh water frozen over. The 
ship being made fast, a hole was drilled in the ice 
and our water tanks filled. 

On the berg there was a white fox, but no shoot- 
ing at it was allowed lest the concussion should 
bring down masses of ice. By evening we moved 
away and made fast to a floe far from our danger- 
ous neighbor. The cold was intense and bay ice 
formed around the ship. 

I heard the thunder of splitting bergs several 
times during the night; they sounded like ava- 
lanches among the Alps in the springtime. At 
this season, especially on very cold nights, bergs 
often split and turn over owing to water freezing 




West Side Native Residence 




Native House on West Side 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 213 

in crevices formed by the warm summer sun, and 
for this reason they are avoided as much as pos- 
sible. We now spent five days dodging about 
under canvas with fires banked. Part of the time 
we were off Cape Hooper and part off Home Bay, 
but we did not see a single whale. 

The weather was for the most part fine, but bit- 
terly cold. If a mist arose at night the ship pre- 
sented a curious spectacle in the morning, her rig- 
ging being coated with ice. 

Our handy tradesmen during this period made 
some pretty things. The carpenter presented the 
Captain with a neat model of a ship, while the 
cooper turned out a tobacco box which was a work 
of art. 

September 8th. Monday. We bore up for home. 
What cheerful news it was! Passage sails were 
bent, boats taken in and placed on skids, bunkers 
were coaled and all was life and bustle. Every 
one was happy. The voyage had been a success, 
and we had not had a serious accident. 

The "crow's nest " was sent down, nautical 
time adopted and the watch set. To crown all, a 
fresh breeze sprang up, and with everything set 
and steaming full speed we started down the 
Straits. 

By bedtime we were in a heavy fog, so the can- 
vas was taken off and the engines slowed down. 
During the night the phosphorescence was very 
beautiful. Pieces of ice thrown away by the pro- 
peller looked like balls of fire, while the water 
immediately around the stern seemed all aflame. 



214 A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 

For the next two days we had fog, so made little 
progress at night. During the day the men were 
employed washing lines and stowing them away. 
Guns and harpoons were cleaned and greased and 
the ship was thoroughly washed. 

On the 11th, we had a strong gale with a dark 
and cloudy sky. It was strange to be at sea and 
feel the motion of the ship after weeks of smooth 
water amidst the ice. After this the sea was 
smooth, and we had fog all the time until, off Cape 
Farewell on the 15th, the day being fine, the ship 
was hove to and painted outside. A dense fog 
came down that night, and we did not make an- 
other observation until off the Scottish coast. 

On Saturday, September 20th, the fog was very 
dense and we steamed slowly until noon, when it 
lifted for a short time and showed us the island 
of St. Kilda. I was sorry we could not land here 
as it was a wonderful breeding place for the ful- 
mar petrels; but home was in sight, and Captain 
Fairweather did not want to linger on a rock- 
bound coast, so we steered north and on Sunday 
morning, the 21st, we were off the Butt of Lewis. 

It was thick at times during the morning, but 
cleared in the afternoon and gave us a view of 
the Orkneys. The Captain decided to go north 
of Orkney, as he did not like the Pentland Firth 
with so much fog about. At night the weather 
was perfectly clear. 

September 22nd. Monday. On deck in the 
morning every one was looking pleasant, and the 
ship neat. We were crossing the Moray Firth 




CO 



M 



IN THE WHALER AURORA 215 

and coming close to the Aberdeen coast. A fish- 
ing boat from Fraserborough was hailed and an 
assortment of fish purchased for breakfast. These 
were paid for with tobacco, and the pay was lib- 
eral. The first question asked by us was, " Is 
England at war? " This being answered in the 
negative, greatly pleased those of the crew who 
were naval reserve men. Eight bells struck and 
my last breakfast on board the Aurora was served. 
After breakfast we passed Peterhead, formerly a 
great port for whalers, and then we steamed south 
close to the coast. The yellow fields of grain and 
stubble, the cottages and the trees, looked to our 
snow-dazzled eyes like Fairy Land. We passed 
Aberdeen and Stonehaven. We were close enough 
to see Dunottar's grim ruin, then Montrose, and 
in a short time our pilot was on board with all 
the news, and we were at home. 

Of the Davis Straits ships in 1884 one was lost, 
the Narwhal; but now, with the exception of the 
Active and Aurora, the weed-grown ribs of the 
entire fleet rest beneath the waters of the cold 
northern seas and the records of their crews' 
escapes and hardships would fill volumes. 



APPENDIX 

Notice of arrival of whalers in Dundee Adver- 
tiser of September 23rd: 



Dundee Advertiser, September 23rd, 1884. 



The Esquimaux — The Loss of Two Men 

The Esquimaux, Capt. Milne, arrived in the Tay 
last night from Davis Straits, and will be docked 
with this morning's tide. The Esquimaux was 
unsuccessful at the Newfoundland seal fishing, 
only 1,900 seals having been secured; but she 
has brought a fair cargo from Davis Straits, con- 
sisting of 11 whales, which will yield 140 tons of 
oil and 6 tons of whalebone. Two fatalities have, 
unfortunately, occurred during the voyage. Early 
in the season a young man named Allan Smith, a 
native of Dundee, was dragged overboard by the 
line catching him after a bottle-nosed whale had 
been struck, and he was never seen again. It is 
a painful circumstance that Smith's father was 
lost from the same ship several years ago. An- 
other of the crew was lost during the passage 
home. He accidentally fell overboard, and a boat 
was sent in search of him. After some time he 

217 



218 APPENDIX 

was picked up in semi-lifeless state, and all at- 
tempts to restore animation failed. 



Dundee Advertiser, September 23rd, 1884. 



Davis Straits Whale Fishing — Arrival of Aurora. 

The steamer Aurora, belonging to Messrs. Alex. 
Stephen & Sons, arrived at Dundee yesterday af- 
ternoon from the Davis Straits whale fishing. 
The Aurora, commanded by Capt. Jas. Fair- 
weather, has had a very successful voyage. At 
Newfoundland 28,150 seals were secured during 
the two trips, the Aurora being the only one of 
the Dundee fleet which was fortunate in securing 
a good catch. On the 8th May she left St. John's 
for Davis Straits, and on reaching Disco fell in 
with the Thetis and Bear, on their way north in 
search of the Greely Expedition. The three ships 
thereafter kept in company until they reached the 
north water, when Capt. Fairweather steamed 
across to Lancaster Sound. An impenetrable 
barrier of ice blocked the Sound, a circumstance 
which told in favor of the fishing, as a large num- 
ber of whales were secured at the edge of the ice. 
The crew were successful in capturing ten, and 
also three bottle-noses, which will yield 105 tons 
of oil and about 5 tons of whalebone. As the sea- 
son advanced the fishing was prosecuted along 
the west coast of Davis Straits, but without sue- 



APPENDIX 219 

cess, owing to the immense quantities of ice, which 
seemed never to have been driven out of the 
Straits this year. The frost came on unusually 
early and very severe, 12 to 14 degrees being reg- 
istered in August. Capt. Fairweather bore up 
for home on the 8th Sept. and experienced a good 
deal of foggy weather in crossing the Atlantic. 
He confirms the news previously received of the 
catches of the fleet, and mentions that the Poly- 
nia is the only vessel which has added to her 
cargo, which now consists of 6 whales, equal to 
60 tons of oil. The Triune sailed for home on the 
6th Sept. Capt. Fairweather has brought home 
a fine specimen of the Sabine gull, a bird rarely 
to be met with in Davis Straits. It ought to be 
mentioned that the crew of the Aurora, after 
receiving the news of the Chieftain disaster from 
the pilot at the mouth of the river, subscribed the 
sum of £20 18s. to the fund. 

Whalers sailing from Dundee in 1884: 

Ship Captain Tons Seals Whales Bottle- Tons Tons 

Reg. nose Seal Whale 

Oil Oil 



Active 


Brown 


267 


4,258 




11 


61 




Arctic 


Guy 


522 


101 


13 


17 


1 


112 


Aurora 


Fairweather 


386 


28,153 


10 


3 


283 


97 


Cornwallis 


Nichol 


394 




2 






21 


Esquimaux 


Milne 


466 


1,830 


11 


24 


25 


115 


Intrepid 


Davidson 


326 


940 




8 


29 




Jan Mayen 


Deuchars 


319 


3,750 


8 




57 


80 


Maud 


Watson 


276 


191 




56 


5 




Narwhal 


Phillips 


362 


2,759 


10 




40 


90 


Nova Zembla 


Kilgour 


255 


160 


8 


7 




88 


Polynia 


Walker 


359 


991 


6 




13 


58 


Polar Star 


Robertson 


216 


3,508 




10 


93 




Resolute 


Jackman 


424 


4,722 




3 


102 




Star 


Salmon 


229 


46 




45 






Triune 


Souter 


382 




11 






92 


Chieftain 


Gellatley 


169 






3 







220 



APPENDIX 



Whalers sailing from Peterhead in 1884: 



Ship 



Captain 



Alert 


Allan 


Catherine 


Abernathy 


Eclipse 


Gray 


Ereck 


Gray 


Earl of Mar 


Mackie 


Germanic 


Walker 


Hope 


Gray 


Perseverance 


McLennan 


Windward 


Murray 



Tons 


Seals 


Whales 


Bottle. 


Reg. 






nose 


130 






24 


190 






22 


295 


7,200 


7 




412 


5,600 


3 


14 




2,240 




12 
21 


307 


7,300 


1 




163 






26 


245 


440 




14 



A list of Greenland and Davis Straits ships 
sailing from Holland, from Dr. Lang's book: 



Date 


Ships 


Whales 


1661 


133 


452 


1662 


149 


862 


1663 


202 


932 


1664 


193 


782 


1665) 
1666 \ 
1667) 


War with 
England 


1668 


155 


573 


1669 


138 


1,013 


1670 


148 


792 


1671 


158 


1,088 


16721 

1673 [ 

1674 j 


War with 
England 


1675 


147 


900 


1676 


145 


812 


1677 


145 


785 


1678 


120 


1,118 


1679 


126 


792 


1680 


151 


1,373 


1681 


175 


876 


1682 


195 


1,444 


1683 


242 


1,338 


1684 


233 


1,153 


1685 


209 


1,283 


1686 


189 


764 


1687 


194 


621 


1688 


214 


340 


1689 


160 


241 


1690 


117 


785 


1691 


' 


War 


1692 


32 


56 


1693 


90 


170 


1694 


63 


161 


1695 


97 


187 


1696 


122 


428 


1697 


131 


1,279 


1698 


139 


1,483 



Date 


Ships 


Whale 


1699 


151 


775 


1700 


173 


913 


1701 


208 


2,011 


1702 


224 


687 


1703 


207 


644 


1704 


130 


652 


1705 


157 


1,657 


1706 


151 


966 


1707 


131 


126 


1708 


122 


533 


1709 


126 


192 


1710 


137 


62 


1711 


117 


631 


1712 


108 


373 


1713 


93 


237 


1714 


108 


1,291 


1715 


134 


698 


1716 


153 


535 


1717 


179 


392 


1718 


139 


280 


1719 


211 


346 


1720 


228 


455 


1721 


200 


733 


1722 


254 


1,101 


1723 


233 


304 


1724 


232 


358 


1725 


226 


530 


1726 


218 


244 


1727 


202 


402 


1728 


182 


363 


1729 


184 


229 


1730 


168 


248 


1731 


164 


298 


1732 


176 


314 


1733 


184 


360 


1734 


186 


327 


1735 


185 


496 


1736 


191 


857 



APPENDIX 



221 



Date 


Ships 


Whales 


Date 


Ships 


Whales 


1737 


196 


504 


1763 






1738 


195 


472 


1764 


161 


224 


1739 


192 


728 


1765 


165 


477 


1740 


187 


665 


1766 


167 


189 


1741 


178 


312 


1767 


165 


179 


1742 


173 


558 


1768 


160 


600 


1743 


185 


937 


1769 


152 


1,127 


1744 


183 


1,494 


1770 


150 


523 


1745 


184 


568 


1771 


150 


143 


1746 


180 


1,036 


1772 


131 


768 


1747 


164 


776 


1773 


134 


444 


1748 


94 


278 


1774 


130 


450 


1749 


157 


619 


1775 


124 


105 


1750 


158 


590 


1776 


123 


509 


1751 


162 


330 


1777 


116 


427 


1752 


159 


546 


1778 


111 


306 


1753 


166 


639 


1779 


105 


108 


1754 


171 


672 


1780 


82 


476 


1755 


181 


720 


1781 ) 

1782) 




War 


1756 


186 


508 




1757 


180 


423 


1783 


55 


330 


1758 


159 


371 


1784 


62 


198 


1759 


155 


464 


1785 


65 


300 


1760 


154 


454 


1786 


67 


476 


1761 


161 


357 


1787 


67 


239 


1762 


165 


189 


1788 


69 


190 



Ships at Greenland and Davis Straits, with 
number of whales killed: 





1790 




18 


14 




Ships Whales 


Ships 


Whales 


London 


34 


93 


20 


367 


Hull 


23 


58 


58 


697 


Liverpool 


15 


59 


2 


43 


Whitby 


12 


30 


8 


172 


Newcastle 


7 


31 


5 


49 


Lynn 


4 


8 


1 


25 


Sunderland 


5 


7 






Whitehaven 


2 


2 






Grimsby 






1 


7 


Berwick 






2 


16 


Leith 


5 


12 


10 


73 


Aberdeen 


4 


7 


13 


178 


Dundee 


4 


3 


8 


61 


Dunbar 


3 


9 






Montrose 


3 


4 


3 


47 


Glasgow 


2 


3 






Kirkcaldy 






4 


7 


Peterhead 






7 


164 


Banff 






2 


30 


Kirkwall 






1 


10 


Greenock 






1 


35 


Boness 


2 


5 







222 



APPENDIX 



The above list shows how the trade changed in 
a few years from London to Hull, and it also shows 
how Scotland increased her fleet, while England 
reduced hers. 

In an old work— " McPherson's Annals of 
Commerce "— is found the following list of ships 
sent to the whaling: 



1771 England 


50 




Scotlanc 


1 9 


1773 


<< 


55 






10 


1774 


« 


65 






9 


1775 


« 


96 






9 


1776 


<< 


91 






7 


1777 


« 


77 






7 


1778 


it 


71 






5 


1779 


it 


52 






3 


1780 


it 


50 






4 


1781 


« 


34 






5 


1782 


a 


38 






6 


1783 


tt 


47 






4 


1784 


it 


89 






7 


1785 


it 


136 






13 


1786 


it 


162 






23 


1787 


tt 


219 






31 


1788 


it 


216 






31 


1789 


tt 


133 






28 


1815 147 Vessels, 


— Captured 891 Whales 


1816 146 


it 




it 


1,330 


tt 


1818 157 


n 




tt 


1,208 


a 


1820 159 


tt 




a 


1,595 


n 


1821 158 


tt 




tt 


1,438 


ti 


1823 117 


it 




a 


2,018 


t 


1824 111 


tt 




a 


761 


u 


1827 88 


it 




a 


1,162 


tt 


1831 88 


it 




it 


454 


a 


1833 77 


u 




it 


1,695 


tt 


1836 61 


ii 




it 


70 


u 


1845 39 


u 




tt 


418 


ti 


1850 32 


it 




tt 


87 


tt 


1855 50 


u 




tt 


54 


tt 


1860 51 


it 




tt 


99 


a 


1865 26 


tt 




tt 


66 


« 


1870 22 


ti 




it 


86 


tt 


1875 20 


it 




tt 


98 


it 


1880 19 


n 




tt 


12 


it 



The whaling was now confined to Dundee and 
Peterhead, and remained so until 1900, when 



APPENDIX 



223 



Peterhead sent her last whaler to sea, and since 
then the industry has been carried on by Dundee 
alone. 

In 1733 a bounty of twenty shillings a ton on 
ships over two hundred tons was given by the 
English Government, and in 1749 this was 
doubled to induce competition with the Dutch. 




AU6 4 191 1 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



AUG 10 H»»l 



